📖 Meaning
In ancient China, yellow was the noble primary color and green was a secondary one. Making a green outer garment with a yellow lining symbolized hierarchy inverted—noble made low, low made noble. It now metaphorically refers to the reversal of proper order between superior and inferior, or between high and low status.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom originates from the poem 'Green Garment' (绿衣) in the 'Bei Feng' (邶风) section of the Classic of Poetry (诗经), China's oldest extant poetry collection from the Zhou dynasty. The opening line '绿兮衣兮，绿衣黄里' (Green is the garment, green outside, yellow inside) expresses deep sorrow. Traditional commentary, such as that in the Mao Prefaces, attributes the poem to Zhuang Jiang (庄姜), the principal wife of Duke Zhuang of Wei (卫庄公), who was displaced when the duke favored a lowborn concubine—hence the metaphor of green wrongly placed over yellow to denote a wife usurped by a concubine.
💡 Example Usage
朝廷任用宦官掌权，正是绿衣黄里，乱了朝纲。
The court empowering eunuchs to rule was a case of green-over-yellow—proper hierarchy overturned, throwing the dynasty into chaos.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 绿衣黄里
- Pinyin: lǜ yī huáng lǐ
- Literal Translation: green, garment, yellow, lining
- Category: Status
- Characters: 4