📖 Meaning
To barely manage to get through the year, scraping by under difficult circumstances. It conveys a resigned, passive attitude of making do with just enough to survive rather than striving for better. The phrase often describes someone enduring hardship with little hope of improvement.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase originates from the Zuo Zhuan (《左传·襄公二十一年》), a foundational historical text of the Spring and Autumn period. In the original passage, '优哉游哉，聊以卒岁' describes someone living leisurely and aimlessly, barely getting through the year without ambition. The Duke Xiang referenced is a ruler of the State of Lu. Over time the idiom came to emphasize the sense of merely surviving rather than thriving.
💡 Example Usage
在那样艰难的岁月里，他只能聊以卒岁，等待着转机的到来。
In those difficult years, he could only scrape by through each year, waiting for a turn of fortune.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 聊以卒岁
- Pinyin: liáo yǐ zú suì
- Literal Translation: barely, to, finish, year
- Category: Attitude
- Characters: 4