📖 Meaning
Describes someone so physically frail that even their own clothes seem too heavy to bear. It is a vivid classical metaphor for extreme bodily weakness or feebleness, often used to depict someone in a severely weakened state.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom originates from the chapter 'Against Physiognomy' (非相) in the Xunzi, a philosophical work from the Warring States period by the Confucian thinker Xunzi. He described Duke Ye's son Gao as being so diminutive, short, and gaunt that he walked as if he could barely support the weight of his own garments. The vivid image was later crystallized into this set idiom to describe extreme physical debility.
💡 Example Usage
他大病初愈，行不胜衣，需静养数月。
He has just recovered from a serious illness and is so weak he can barely bear his own clothes, needing several months of rest.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 行不胜衣
- Pinyin: xíng bù shèng yī
- Literal Translation: walk, not, bear, clothes
- Category: Condition
- Characters: 4