📖 Meaning
If the head can fit through, the body can pass. A metaphor for muddling through life and making do with the bare minimum. It describes an attitude of seeking just enough to get by without striving for better.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase appears in the 'Biography of the Western Qiang' in the Book of the Later Han (后汉书). The Han dynasty court faced threats from the Qiang people in the western frontier, yet senior officials were indecisive and cowardly, choosing to cope with the situation by doing only the bare minimum to survive rather than taking decisive action. The historian Ban Gu used this vivid image—'if the head fits, the body passes'—to criticize officials who settled for mere expediency. It has since become a criticism of a passive, short-sighted approach to problems.
💡 Example Usage
他做事总是容头过身，从不肯多花心思把事情做好。
He always does just enough to get by and never puts in the extra effort to do things well.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 容头过身
- Pinyin: róng tóu guò shēn
- Literal Translation: allow, head, pass, body
- Category: Attitude
- Characters: 4