📖 Meaning
Describes a life of poverty where one cannot get enough to eat on a daily basis. The phrase literally suggests being hungry one day and only partially full the next, reflecting irregular and insufficient meals.
📜 Origin Story
From the Ming dynasty writer Feng Menglong's collection 'Stories to Awaken the World' (醒世恒言), Volume 7. The original passage describes a servant named Qian Xing who did small trading each day to support his master, yet his earnings often fell short, leaving him with irregular meals. The phrase vividly captures the precarious living conditions of common people in late Ming society.
💡 Example Usage
旧社会里，穷苦百姓一饥两饱，终年不得温饱。
In the old society, the impoverished common people lived with irregular and insufficient meals, never having enough to eat throughout the year.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 一饥两饱
- Pinyin: yī jī liǎng bǎo
- Literal Translation: one hungry, two full
- Category: Condition
- Characters: 4