📖 Meaning
Supreme and unmatched; reaching the absolute highest point with nothing above it. It describes something or someone that occupies the ultimate pinnacle and has no equal or superior.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase first appears in the 'Miao Cheng Xun' chapter of the Huainanzi, compiled during the Western Han dynasty under Prince Liu An of Huainan, which declares that the Way (Dao) is the highest with nothing above it and the deepest with nothing below it. The Eastern Han scholar Xu Shen later cites the same expression in his Shuowen Jiezi to gloss the character 天 (heaven), defining it as the summit that is supreme and beyond. These classical sources together established the idiom as a term for absolute supremacy.
💡 Example Usage
在这门学科中，他的权威至高无上。
In this field, his authority is supreme and unmatched.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 至高无上
- Pinyin: zhì gāo wú shàng
- Literal Translation: zhi (most), gao (high), wu (no), shang (above)
- Category: Status
- Characters: 4