📖 Meaning
To implicate or cause suffering to innocent people who have done no wrong. It describes situations where blame, punishment, or investigation extends beyond the guilty parties and harms those who are not at fault.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase appears in Qing dynasty literature. Wu Jianren's novel 'Hutu Shijie' (The Confused World), chapter nine, records an official ordering a case solved within three days but explicitly forbidding the implication of the innocent. Lin Zexu also used it in an official proclamation to foreign merchants, assuring that searches would be conducted personally by officers and would not result in framed charges harming the blameless. The expression underscores the Confucian principle that justice must be precise and must not extend harm to those without guilt.
💡 Example Usage
办案务必严谨，切勿累及无辜。
Handle cases with utmost care, and never implicate the innocent.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 累及无辜
- Pinyin: lěi jí wú gū
- Literal Translation: implicate, reach, without, guilt
- Category: Morality
- Characters: 4