📖 Meaning
To eliminate something at its very root, ensuring it cannot regrow or resurge. The metaphor comes from agriculture: just as a farmer must uproot weeds completely to prevent them from sprouting again, one must address a problem fundamentally rather than merely treating its symptoms. It implies thorough and decisive eradication.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase originates from the Zuo Zhuan (左传), a foundational historical text of the Spring and Autumn period, specifically in the record of the sixth year of Duke Yin (隐公六年). The passage quotes the principle that a ruler governing a state should regard evil the way a farmer regards weeds—cutting them down, gathering and destroying them, and severing their roots so they cannot propagate, thereby allowing virtue to flourish. The metaphor of root-cutting became a lasting political and moral lesson about decisively eliminating threats at their source.
💡 Example Usage
对付腐败分子必须绝其本根，否则日后必成大患。
Corrupt elements must be eradicated at the root, or they will surely become a grave threat in the future.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 绝其本根
- Pinyin: jué qí běn gēn
- Literal Translation: cut off, its, root
- Category: Method
- Characters: 4