📖 Meaning
To launch a military campaign without a legitimate cause. By extension, it means to undertake any action without proper justification or grounds.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase traces back to the 'Tan Gong' chapter of the Book of Rites (礼记·檀弓下), where it is said that if a ruler pardons another state's faults rather than punishing them, sending troops would lack a righteous name. It is also recorded in the History of the Former Han (汉书·高帝纪): 'When troops are dispatched without a just cause, the endeavor will not succeed.' The saying encapsulates the classical Chinese principle, later endorsed by Han-dynasty thinkers, that warfare or any major undertaking must rest on a moral and legitimate justification to prevail.
💡 Example Usage
这次进攻师出无名，恐怕难以服众。
This offensive has no legitimate cause behind it, and will hardly convince anyone.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 师出无名
- Pinyin: shī chū wú míng
- Literal Translation: army, dispatched, without, justification
- Category: Morality
- Characters: 4