📖 Meaning
To abandon the fundamentals and chase after trivialities. It describes neglecting what is essential in favor of superficial or minor details, getting priorities backwards.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from the 'Book of Northern History' (北史), in the biography of Li E (李谔), an official of the Sui Dynasty. Li E criticized the literary trends of his era, where writers abandoned substantive content in favor of ornate and flowery style. He lamented that this practice of 'abandoning the root to pursue the branches' had spread throughout the land, with each generation imitating and amplifying the errors of the previous one, growing ever worse over time.
💡 Example Usage
做学问若捐本逐末，只追求华丽辞藻而忽视思想深度，终究难成大器。
In scholarship, if one abandons the fundamentals to chase trivialities—pursuing ornate rhetoric while neglecting depth of thought—one will ultimately fail to achieve greatness.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 捐本逐末
- Pinyin: juān běn zhú mò
- Literal Translation: abandon, root, pursue, branch
- Category: Method
- Characters: 4