📖 Meaning
To violate the law and break the established rules and discipline. It describes behavior that defies legal statutes and disrupts social or institutional order. It implies willful, lawless conduct that undermines the proper functioning of society or an organization.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom traces to the Book of the Later Han (《后汉书》), specifically the joint biography of Yuan Shao and Liu Biao, compiled by the historian Fan Ye in the 5th century during the Liu Song dynasty of the Southern Dynasties period. In the text, Yuan Shao condemns the overbearing conduct of Dong Zhuo, the warlord who seized control of the imperial court in the late Eastern Han dynasty. Dong Zhuo is accused of acting willfully on his own authority, bullying the nobility, and 'breaking the law and ruining discipline' while monopolizing court politics. The source passage actually reads '败法乱纪' (ruin the law, disorder the discipline), from which the modern form '违法乱纪' was derived.
💡 Example Usage
任何违法乱纪的行为都将受到法律的严惩。
Any act that violates the law and disrupts discipline will be severely punished by the law.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 违法乱纪
- Pinyin: wéi fǎ luàn jì
- Literal Translation: violate law, disrupt discipline
- Category: Morality
- Characters: 4