糟粕 (zāopò): dross

Meanings

1 dross
2 dregs
3 (figurative) worthless residue; useless or harmful element

Characters

糟

residue from pressed grains

Examples

我们要取其精华，去其糟粕。

Wǒmen yào qǔ qí jīnghuá, qù qí zāopò.

We should keep the essence and discard the dross.

传统文化中也有不少糟粕需要剔除。

Chuántǒng wénhuà zhōng yě yǒu bùshǎo zāopò xūyào tīchú.

Traditional culture also contains plenty of dross that needs to be weeded out.

Tips

history

糟粕 literally means 'wine lees and bean dregs' — what's left after fermentation or pressing. The famous figurative use comes from 庄子《天道》, where Wheelwright Bian tells Duke Huan that the writings of the ancient sages are merely 古人之糟粕 ('the dregs of the ancients'). The phrase 取其精华，去其糟粕 ('take the essence, discard the dross') became a stock formula in 20th-century debates about reforming tradition.