📖 Meaning
A disaster or misfortune as slight as a fiber or a hair. It describes a calamity so minor that it is barely worth mentioning. The idiom emphasizes the trivial scale of the harm suffered.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase comes from Zhan Guo Ce (Strategies of the Warring States), in the chapter on the state of Qi, during the Warring States period. It refers to Lord Mengchang (Tian Wen), a noble of Qi who served as prime minister for decades. The text says he suffered no misfortune even as slight as a fiber thanks to the schemes of his retainer Feng Xuan. Feng Xuan was famous for cleverly securing his master's safety, most notably by burning debt records in the fief of Xue to win the people's gratitude.
💡 Example Usage
他一生谨慎，几十年间未遭纤介之祸。
Cautious all his life, he suffered not even the slightest misfortune in decades.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 纤介之祸
- Pinyin: xiān jiè zhī huò
- Literal Translation: fine as hair, tiny, of, disaster
- Category: Condition
- Characters: 4