📖 Meaning
Refers to a woman who marries a husband of poor character or moral quality. It describes the misfortune of being bound to an unworthy or ill-natured partner, often through no fault of one's own.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from the Classic of Poetry (《诗经》), specifically the poem 'In the Valley There is Motherwort' (《王风·中谷有蓷》) from the Zhou Dynasty. The poem laments a woman abandoned by her husband, describing her grief and solitary suffering. The original line reads '遇人之不淑矣', meaning she encountered a man lacking in virtue. Over centuries, the phrase was refined into the four-character idiom '遇人不淑', used to express a woman's misfortune in marriage.
💡 Example Usage
她一生遇人不淑，两段婚姻都以失败告终。
She was unlucky in her choice of partners all her life, and both of her marriages ended in failure.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 遇人不淑
- Pinyin: yù rén bù shū
- Literal Translation: meet, person, not, virtuous
- Category: Condition
- Characters: 4