📖 Meaning
Describes people who share the same tastes, interests, or disposition and therefore get along well together. The term typically carries a negative connotation, referring to undesirable individuals who are drawn to each other because of their similar bad qualities.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase traces back to the Zuo Zhuan (《左传·襄公八年》), where a ruler compared his relationship with another lord to plants of the same kind sharing the same scent and nature. The Han dynasty scholar Cai Yong later used the expression in an inscription for Li Xiu, describing how associates of similar disposition gathered together for his burial. Over the centuries the meaning shifted from a neutral sense of shared temperament to its modern usage, describing people with similar—usually objectionable—habits and interests flocking together.
💡 Example Usage
这两个坏人臭味相投，很快就混到了一起。
These two villains were cut from the same cloth and quickly fell in with each other.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 臭味相投
- Pinyin: xiù wèi xiāng tóu
- Literal Translation: smell, taste, mutually, agree
- Category: Attitude
- Characters: 4