📖 Meaning
Describes clothes that are tattered and worn out. It is used to depict someone in a state of extreme poverty or destitution. The phrase conveys both literal raggedness and the hardship of one's circumstances.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom traces back to the Zuo Zhuan (左传), a pre-Qin historical text by Zuo Qiuming, specifically in the record of Duke Xuan's twelfth year. The original passage describes kings Ru Ao and Fen Mao leading their people to open up mountain forests while wearing ragged clothes, symbolizing the hardships of pioneering labor. The Jin dynasty scholar Du Yu annotated the term '蓝缕' as meaning worn-out clothing. Over time, the phrase came to describe anyone dressed in shabby, torn garments.
💡 Example Usage
那位老人衣衫褴褛地走在街头，令人心酸。
The old man walked the streets in tattered clothes, a heartbreaking sight.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 衣衫褴褛
- Pinyin: yī shān lán lǚ
- Literal Translation: clothes, garments, torn, ragged
- Category: Condition
- Characters: 4