📖 Meaning
To eliminate personal feelings and private interests by upholding the public good and impartial principles. It describes someone who puts duty and fairness above personal bias, grudges, or self-interest in the conduct of public affairs.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from the 'Zhou Officials' (周官) chapter of the Book of Documents (尚书), one of China's earliest classical texts. The original passage states that when rulers act with public-mindedness to eliminate private interests, the people will genuinely trust and submit to them. The Song dynasty scholar Cai Shen, in his collected commentary, explained it as using the public principle of the world to extinguish the private feelings of oneself. The phrase was later widely cited by historians and officials as a standard of virtuous and impartial governance.
💡 Example Usage
他身为朝廷重臣，凡事以公灭私，从不因私情而废公事。
As a senior court official, he always put public duty above private interests and never let personal feelings interfere with official business.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 以公灭私
- Pinyin: yǐ gōng miè sī
- Literal Translation: use public, extinguish private
- Category: Morality
- Characters: 4