草菅人命
cǎo jiān rén mìng
to treat human life as worthless
Character by character
草cǎo
grass
grass
菅jiān
weed
weed
人rén
human
human
命mìng
life
life
Example
这家黑诊所没有任何资质就给人做手术，简直是草菅人命。
This back-street clinic operated on people without any qualifications at all: it was playing with people’s lives.
Tone: negative (criticism).
Usage and origin
菅 is a coarse grass: to treat a life like a weed. From the Han-dynasty 汉书·贾谊传, which speaks of killing as casually as cutting grass. One of the strongest charges in Chinese, levelled at officials, firms or doctors who put lives at risk through greed or neglect.
Learn this in Lesson 140 · HSK 7–9: 一罐奶粉 (A can of milk powder)
A dialogue, a reading, word cards with audio and a drill that uses it, in Learn Chinese with Bao. The first lessons of every level are free.
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