尔曹身与名俱灭

爾曹身與名俱滅

ěrcáoshēnyǔmíngjùmiè

phrase

Meanings

1 you lot — body and name will vanish together
2 (fig., contemptuous) petty critics and their reputations will be forgotten alike
3 (lit.) you-folk — body — and — name — all-together — perish

Characters

group / lot (尔曹 = you lot)

to perish / be extinguished

Examples

对那些诋毁先贤的人，杜甫说尔曹身与名俱灭。

Duì nàxiē dǐhuǐ xiānxián de rén, Dù Fǔ shuō ěr cáo shēn yǔ míng jù miè.

To those who slandered the great figures of old, Du Fu wrote: 'you lot — body and name will vanish together.'

历史最终证明，尔曹身与名俱灭，不废江河万古流。

Lìshǐ zuìzhōng zhèngmíng, ěr cáo shēn yǔ míng jù miè, bù fèi jiānghé wàngǔ liú.

History proves in the end: 'you lot will vanish body and name — but rivers and seas flow on for all ages.'

Tips

history

From 杜甫《戏为六绝句·其二》 (Du Fu, Tang, 762 CE), defending the reputation of the early-Tang masters 王杨卢骆 (Wang Bo, Yang Jiong, Lu Zhaolin, Luo Binwang) against contemporary sneers: 王杨卢骆当时体，轻薄为文哂未休。尔曹身与名俱灭，不废江河万古流 (Wang, Yang, Lu, Luo — the style of their age; the frivolous mock their writings without end. You lot, body and name, will perish together; the rivers and seas will flow unstopped through all ages). One of the great rebukes to bad critics in any literature.

usage

尔曹 = classical 'you lot / you people,' a slightly disdainful plural-you. 与 here = 'and' (yǔ), conjoining 身 and 名. Always canonically answered by 不废江河万古流. A sharp, literary line — use with awareness of its contemptuous register.

Stroke Order

尔 ěr

曹 Cáo

身 shēn

与 yǔ

名 míng

俱 jù

灭 miè