📖 Meaning
To sweep completely clean, leaving nothing behind. It describes total destruction or elimination of something so that no trace remains. Often used in a negative or lamenting context, especially regarding the loss of cultural or moral heritage.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase originates from the 'Book of Han' (《汉书》), in the commentary on the biographies of Wei Bao and Tian Dan, where it describes how the Qin dynasty's conquest of the six states utterly destroyed the legacy of antiquity. The 'Book of Jin' (《晋书》) preface to the Confucian scholars' biographies also uses it to lament that during the reigns of Emperors Huai and Min, widespread chaos and disaster caused all rites, music, and civilized culture to be completely swept away. The image is of sweeping a floor until nothing at all remains.
💡 Example Usage
圣人之道扫地俱尽，今当重修礼乐以正风俗。
The teachings of the sages have been utterly swept away; now we must restore rites and music to correct public morals.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 扫地俱尽
- Pinyin: sǎo dì jù jìn
- Literal Translation: sweep the ground, all exhausted
- Category: Condition
- Characters: 4