📖 Meaning
To expose hidden wrongdoing and uncover concealed evil deeds. The idiom refers to the act of rooting out and bringing to light the misdeeds that bad actors have tried to keep secret. It describes a determined effort to investigate and unmask corruption, crimes, or injustices that have been buried or disguised.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom appears in classical Chinese administrative and judicial discourse, reflecting the longstanding Confucian ideal that upright officials should uncover and punish wrongdoing that has been concealed from public view. The compound structure pairs two near-synonymous actions: 擿伏 (exposing what is hidden) and 发隐 (revealing what is concealed), emphasizing thorough investigation. Variants such as 擿奸发伏 and 擿伏发奸 appear across historical texts describing incorruptible magistrates and censors. The phrase embodies the virtue attributed to just officials throughout Chinese dynastic history who refused to let powerful wrongdoers operate in the shadows.
💡 Example Usage
这位清官上任后大力擿伏发隐，将隐藏多年的贪腐案件一一查处。
After taking office, this upright official vigorously exposed hidden wrongdoing and uncovered corruption cases that had been buried for years.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 擿伏发隐
- Pinyin: tī fú fā yǐn
- Literal Translation: tī (to expose, pick out), fú (hidden, concealed), fā (to reveal, uncover), yǐn (secret, concealed)
- Category: Justice
- Characters: 4