朽木 (xiǔmù): rotten wood

Meanings

1 rotten wood
2 (figurative) hopeless person beyond help; person who can't be improved

Characters

朽

Examples

这块朽木已经不能用了。

Zhè kuài xiǔmù yǐjīng bùnéng yòng le.

This piece of rotten wood is unusable now.

老师叹气说他真是朽木不可雕。

Lǎoshī tànqì shuō tā zhēn shì xiǔmù bùkě diāo.

The teacher sighed that he really was a hopeless case.

Tips

history

The figurative meaning comes from Confucius in 《论语·公冶长》 (the Analects, Book 5): 朽木不可雕也，粪土之墙不可圬也 — 'rotten wood cannot be carved, a wall of dung cannot be plastered'. Confucius said this of his student Zai Yu, who slept during the day. Today 朽木 alone, and especially the chengyu 朽木不可雕, brands someone as unteachable.

register

Literal use ('rotten wood') is plain everyday Chinese; figurative use is sharp criticism — saying it about a student or subordinate is harsher than English 'hopeless case' because it carries the Confucian weight.