二十四孝

Èrshísìxiào

proper noun

Meanings

1 the Twenty-four Filial Exemplars, a Yuan-dynasty collection of stories about filial children
2 the twenty-four paragons of filial piety in these stories
3 devoted, model (husband, son, boyfriend)

Characters

Examples

HSK 3

小时候，奶奶常给我讲《二十四孝》里的故事。

Xiǎoshíhou, nǎinai cháng gěi wǒ jiǎng 《 Èrshísìxiào 》 lǐ de gùshi.

When I was little, my grandma often told me stories from the Twenty-four Filial Exemplars.

HSK 5

他每天接送老婆上下班，真是个二十四孝老公。

Tā měitiān jiēsòng lǎopo shàngxiàbān, zhēn shì ge Èrshísìxiào lǎogōng.

He takes his wife to work and picks her up every day; he really is a model husband.

HSK 6

古人把舜列为二十四孝的第一位。

Gǔrén bǎ Shùn lièwéi Èrshísìxiào de dìyī wèi.

People of old placed Shun first among the twenty-four paragons of filial piety.

Tips

history

Compiled by 郭居敬 in the Yuan dynasty, each of its twenty-four short tales comes with a poem. They range from the legendary ruler 舜, whose devotion to a cruel father and stepmother moved Heaven, to 汉文帝 tasting his sick mother's medicine himself and 王祥 lying on the ice to melt it and catch carp for his stepmother, 卧冰求鲤. Printed with pictures, they were standard reading for children for centuries.

culture

Some stories now read as cruel: 郭巨 sets out to bury his small son alive so that there will be enough food for his mother. 鲁迅 attacked them in his 1926 essay 二十四孝图 'Pictures of the Twenty-four Filial Exemplars'. In everyday speech the name is used before a noun as praise: an 二十四孝老公 is a husband who does everything for his wife.

Stroke Order

二 èr

十 shí

四 sì

孝 xiào