📖 Meaning
This idiom refers to ordinary people or the general public, using four common Chinese surnames as placeholders. It can also denote people of no particular distinction or importance.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom originates from the 'Book of Liang - Biography of Fan Zhen' (《梁书·范缜传》), a work from the Southern Dynasties period. Fan Zhen was a renowned philosopher famous for arguing against the immortality of the soul. The original passage uses the surnames Zhang, Wang, Li, and Zhao as generic placeholder names to illustrate how one person's feelings could theoretically reside in another's body. Over time, these four surnames came to represent ordinary, undistinguished people in general.
💡 Example Usage
这些人不过是张王赵李之辈，何必与他们计较。
These people are just ordinary folks; there is no need to bicker with them.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 张王赵李
- Pinyin: zhāng wáng zhào lǐ
- Literal Translation: Zhang, Wang, Zhao, Li
- Category: Status
- Characters: 4