📖 Meaning
Making a meal of acorns and soup of turnips. It refers to coarse, poor food and a frugal diet. The idiom describes living simply and contentedly despite meager fare.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom comes from the 'Book of Liang' (《梁书·安成王秀传》), a history of the Liang Dynasty. The original passage contrasts different attitudes toward hardship: some find each day too short even when reduced to acorn-meal and turnip-soup, while others rejoice contentedly despite reed walls and mugwort-mat bedding. It celebrates the virtue of finding contentment amid poverty and simple living.
💡 Example Usage
隐居山中，橡饭菁羹，他却不以为苦。
Living in seclusion in the mountains, he dined on acorn-meal and turnip-soup, yet did not consider it a hardship.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 橡饭菁羹
- Pinyin: xiàng fàn jīng gēng
- Literal Translation: acorn, meal, turnip, soup
- Category: Lifestyle
- Characters: 4