📖 Meaning
Rope and ruler are tools carpenters use to measure straightness and length, metaphorically representing rules and standards. The idiom describes someone whose every action strictly conforms to established norms and propriety, leaving nothing to chance. It often carries a slightly rigid or overly conventional connotation.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase originates from the 'History of Song: Biography of Zhu Xi' (《宋史·朱熹传》), describing the intellectual climate of the Southern Song dynasty. During a period of political repression against Confucian scholars, the text notes that scholars who conducted themselves with strict adherence to propriety—'绳趋尺步'—and even slightly identified as Confucianists found no place to exist under the prevailing political persecution. Zhu Xi, the great Neo-Confucian philosopher, was himself a target of this suppression, and his followers were marginalized for their orthodox conduct and beliefs.
💡 Example Usage
他在官场中绳趋尺步，从不越雷池半步。
He followed every rule to the letter in officialdom and never stepped out of line.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 绳趋尺步
- Pinyin: shéng qū chǐ bù
- Literal Translation: rope, follow, ruler, walk
- Category: Morality
- Characters: 4