📖 Meaning
To have some kinship or friendship connection with someone. It describes people who are related by blood or connected through old friendships and acquaintances.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase originates from the Yuan dynasty play 'Black Whirlwind' (黑旋风) by Gao Wenxiu, where a character disguises himself as someone delivering food who has family ties, so that the jailer will not roughly seize and interrogate him. In the fourth act, the plot relies on this fabricated relationship to gain access. The idiom thus came to denote any situation where people share a connection through relatives or old friends. It later appeared widely in Ming and Qing vernacular fiction, such as 'Xingshi Yinyuan Zhuan'.
💡 Example Usage
他和她家沾亲带故，所以经常走动。
He has some family connection with her household, so they visit each other often.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 沾亲带故
- Pinyin: zhān qīn dài gù
- Literal Translation: touch, relative, bring, old friend
- Category: Status
- Characters: 4