📖 Meaning
To pick up and collect everything completely, leaving nothing behind. It describes an act of gathering or salvaging so thoroughly that no item or detail is omitted. The idiom emphasizes absolute completeness and exhaustiveness in retrieval.
📜 Origin Story
No documented origin exists for this idiom, and it is not attributed to any specific classical text, dynasty, or historical figure. The expression is a straightforward compound of 拾掇 (to pick up and gather) and 无遗 (without anything left behind), creating a vivid image of collecting until nothing remains. Because it is built from common classical components rather than drawn from an allusion or anecdote, its meaning is transparent from its constituent characters. It functions as a descriptive phrase whose force comes from its own literal imagery.
💡 Example Usage
他把田里散落的谷穗拾掇无遗，一粒都不肯浪费。
He picked up every scattered grain ear in the field without missing a single one, unwilling to waste a grain.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 拾掇无遗
- Pinyin: shi duo wu yi
- Literal Translation: pick up, gather, without, leftover
- Category: Method
- Characters: 4