九牛一毛

Phát âm: jiǔ niú yī máo Nghĩa đen: One hair from nine oxen

Nguồn gốc & Cách sử dụng

This idiom comes from a letter written by the great Han Dynasty historian Sima Qian (司马迁) to his friend Ren An. After being castrated as punishment for defending a disgraced general, Sima Qian wrote that his death would be as insignificant as losing one hair from nine oxen - utterly negligible in the grand scheme of things. The phrase emphasizes extreme insignificance through vivid proportion. In modern usage, it describes something trivial compared to a larger whole, often used to minimize losses or contributions.

Khi nào sử dụng

Tình huống: Losing that small investment was just one hair from nine oxen compared to his total wealth.

Khám phá một thành ngữ Trung Quốc mới mỗi ngày với ứng dụng iOS của chúng tôi.