贫无立锥

貧無立錐

pínwú-lìzhuī

idiom

Meanings

1 so poor as to lack even enough land to stick an awl into
2 utterly destitute

Characters

Examples

HSK 7-9

他从小贫无立锥，靠拾荒为生。

Tā cóngxiǎo pínwú-lìzhuī, kào shíhuāng wéishēng.

From childhood he was utterly destitute, surviving by scavenging.

HSK 7-9

战乱之后，许多百姓贫无立锥。

Zhànluàn zhīhòu, xǔduō bǎixìng pínwú-lìzhuī.

After the war, many common people were destitute, without even an inch of land.

Tips

history

Traced to 《汉书·食货志》: 富者田连阡伯，贫者亡立锥之地 - 'the rich own field after field, the poor have no spot even to plant an awl.' The image is brutal: an awl point is barely millimetres wide, yet the poor own less ground than that.

memory

锥 (zhuī) is an awl - a thin, pointed shoemaker's tool. If you can't find ground for even an awl tip, you own literally nothing.

Stroke Order

贫 pín

无 wú

立 lì

锥 zhuī