📖 Meaning
A single grain of millet in a vast state granary. It metaphorically represents an extremely small quantity within an overwhelmingly large total. Used to emphasize how negligible something is when set against a much greater whole.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom originates from the philosophical work Zhuangzi (《庄子》), specifically the chapter 'Autumn Floods' (秋水), written during the Warring States period by the Daoist thinker Zhuang Zhou. In the passage, the deity of the Northern Sea reflects on the vastness of the world, comparing the lands within the seas to a single grain of millet inside the imperial granary (太仓). This Daoist analogy illustrates the relative insignificance of human affairs against the boundless cosmos, and the phrase was later condensed into the four-character idiom 太仓一粟.
💡 Example Usage
我的藏书不过是太仓一粟，算不上什么收藏大家。
My collection of books is but a single grain in a vast granary, hardly worth calling a great library.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 太仓一粟
- Pinyin: tài cāng yī sù
- Literal Translation: great granary, one, grain
- Category: Philosophy
- Characters: 4