📖 Meaning
This idiom means to exhaust troops in vain and squander military provisions. It describes a futile military campaign that drains both manpower and financial resources without achieving any result. The phrase criticizes leadership that commits forces and money to an effort with no tangible gain.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom does not trace to a single specific literary source but is a compound expression from classical Chinese military vocabulary. The character 劳 means to toil or wear out, 师 refers to an army or troops, 糜 means to waste or squander, and 饷 denotes military pay or provisions. The full phrase appears in Qing-era and later military commentaries as a critique of ill-advised campaigns. It reflects the traditional Chinese strategic principle that military action must be decisive and justified, lest one exhaust both soldiers and treasury for nothing.
💡 Example Usage
这场战争劳师糜饷，毫无收获。
This war exhausted the troops and wasted provisions, achieving nothing at all.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 劳师糜饷
- Pinyin: láo shī mí xiǎng
- Literal Translation: toil, army, waste, provisions
- Category: Leadership
- Characters: 4