📖 Meaning
A metaphor for people joining forces to collectively exclude or ostracize dissenters and outsiders. It describes factional behavior where entrenched groups cooperate to marginalize those who do not conform to their views.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom draws on agricultural imagery—pulling ropes to align objects and chopping roots to remove unwanted growth—which was applied metaphorically to describe factional exclusion in ancient Chinese court politics and social circles. The variant form "引绳排根" (yǐn shéng pái gēn) is also commonly used. It reflects the historical tendency of power groups to form alliances and work together to suppress opposing voices. No single definitive textual source is recorded for this expression.
💡 Example Usage
朝中大臣引绳批根，将异己逐一排挤出权力核心。
The court ministers joined forces to ostracize dissenters, driving them one by one from the center of power.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 引绳批根
- Pinyin: yǐn shéng pī gēn
- Literal Translation: pull, rope, chop, root
- Category: Power
- Characters: 4