📖 Meaning
Refers to a person who can restrain their own desires and yield to others. It describes someone who willingly takes the lesser share for the sake of harmony and good order. The idiom praises selflessness and modesty in the face of competing interests.
📜 Origin Story
During the Jianwu era of the Eastern Han dynasty, the court would gift each scholar-official (博士) a sheep at the year-end sacrificial ceremony. The sheep varied in size and plumpness, and the scholars debated how to divide them fairly, with some proposing to slaughter the sheep and distribute the meat. The scholar Zhen Yu (甄宇) simply chose the thinnest sheep for himself, ending all disputes. His self-restraint became celebrated, and the phrase came to denote someone who yields personal gain for the sake of others.
💡 Example Usage
多少长安苦吟客，瘦羊博士擅风流。
Many a struggling poet in Chang'an, yet this self-effacing scholar stood out in elegance.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 瘦羊博士
- Pinyin: shòu yáng bó shì
- Literal Translation: thin, sheep, scholar, doctor
- Category: Morality
- Characters: 4