📖 Meaning
This idiom refers to a wife who has shared poverty and hardship with her husband since the early days of their marriage. It emphasizes the virtue of loyalty and gratitude toward a spouse who stood by one's side through difficult times, and is often used to admonish against abandoning such a wife after achieving success or wealth.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom originates from the 'Book of the Later Han' (《后汉书》), in the biography of Song Hong (宋弘). Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han wanted to marry his widowed sister, Princess Huyang, to the already-married minister Song Hong. When the Emperor subtly probed Song Hong's attitude by saying that a man who becomes rich and noble tends to change his wife, Song Hong famously replied: 'I have heard that a friend from poverty should not be forgotten, and a wife who has shared the dregs and husks should not be sent away from the hall.' Ashamed, the Emperor abandoned the idea. The phrase '糟糠之妻' (wife of dregs and husks) became a revered expression for a loyal wife who endured hardship alongside her husband.
💡 Example Usage
他发达后不忘贫贱糟糠，仍与发妻恩爱如初。
After rising to wealth and prominence, he never forgot his wife who had shared his poverty and hardships, and remained as devoted to his first wife as ever.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 贫贱糟糠
- Pinyin: pín jiàn zāo kāng
- Literal Translation: poor, lowly, distiller's grains, chaff
- Category: Morality
- Characters: 4