丧家之犬
sàng jiā zhī quǎn
a stray dog; someone who has lost all support and has nowhere to go
Character by character
丧sàng
lost
lost
家jiā
home
home
之zhī
’s
’s
犬quǎn
dog
dog
Example
被打败的敌人像丧家之犬一样，四处逃命。
The beaten enemy fled in all directions like stray dogs.
Tone: negative (criticism).
Usage and origin
Strongly contemptuous; often 惶惶如丧家之犬. It goes back to the 《史记》, where a man of Zheng said Confucius looked like 丧家之狗 and Confucius laughed and agreed. An old commentary reads 丧 there as sāng, “a dog in a house of mourning” that no one remembers to feed; in the idiom it is sàng.
Learn this in Lesson 86 · HSK 6–7: 孔子其人 (Confucius the man)
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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