食之無味，棄之可惜

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See also: 食之无味，弃之可惜

Chinese

eat; food; to feed
eat; food; to feed; animal feed
 
 's; him/her/it; this
tasteless; having no flavour; dull
tasteless; having no flavour; dull; flat; boring
 
abandon; relinquish; to discard
abandon; relinquish; to discard; to throw away
 
 's; him/her/it; this
regrettable; too bad; a pity
regrettable; too bad; a pity; a shame
 
trad. (食之無味，棄之可惜) 食 之 無味 ， 棄 之 可惜
simp. (食之无味，弃之可惜) 食 之 无味 ， 弃 之 可惜
Literally: “some food may lack flavor, but it would still be a pity to throw it away”.

Etymology

Adapted from a story about Yang Xiu's interpretation of Cao Cao's thoughts in Sanguozhi , and became well known through its adapted version in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms:

夫雞肋，棄之如可惜，食之無所得，以比漢中，知王欲還也。
夫鸡肋，弃之如可惜，食之无所得，以比汉中，知王欲还也。
From: Chen Shou, Records of the Three Kingdoms, circa 3rd century CE
Fū jīlèi, qì zhī rú kěxī, shí zhī wú suǒdé, yǐ bǐ hànzhōng, zhī wáng yù hái yě.
As for chicken ribs, it's pitiful to throw them away, yet there is not much (meat) to eat. If we know that the King (Cao Cao) is using them to compare Hanzhong, we can know that he wants to retreat.

Pronunciation

Idiom

食之無味，棄之可惜

  1. too arduous to relish, too wasteful to discard.(some things have no apparent value, but one still can't bear to throw them away)

See also

Wikious
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