📖 Meaning
To personally handle household chores such as drawing water and husking grain. It describes someone who manages domestic duties with their own hands, often praising diligence, frugality, and a hands-on attitude toward running a household.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom originates from the Han dynasty work 'Biographies of Exemplary Women' (列女传) by Liu Xiang, in the chapter on the Wife of Zhou Nan. The original text states, 'When the family is poor and parents are old, one does not pick and choose an official post but serves; when personally handling the well and mortar, one does not pick and choose a wife but marries.' It conveys the Confucian virtues of filial piety, practical diligence, and contentment with one's lot. A later celebrated usage appears in Wen Kang's Qing dynasty novel 'Tales of Heroic Sons and Daughters' (儿女英雄传).
💡 Example Usage
她虽出身富贵，婚后却亲操井臼，把家中事务打理得井井有条。
Though born into wealth, after marriage she personally handled the household chores and kept everything in perfect order.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 亲操井臼
- Pinyin: qīn cāo jǐng jiù
- Literal Translation: personally, operate, well, mortar
- Category: Lifestyle
- Characters: 4