live from hand to mouth(jiā wú dàn shí)

live from hand to mouth

There is no Danshi at home, which is a Chinese idiom. The Pinyin is Ji à w ú D à NSH í, meaning that ten Dou is one stone and two stones are one Dan. There is no grain in the house. It's a metaphor for a poor family. It comes from the first biography of Yang Xiong in the history of Han Dynasty.

Analysis of Idioms

Family has no burden; family has no burden

Idiom usage

In May of this year, he died in an official office, and his family was destitute. Song Sushi's a gift to Liu jingsun

The origin of Idioms

In the book of Han, biography of Yang Xiong: "the family property is no more than ten gold, and there is no reserve of Danshi, so is Yan Ru."

Idiom story

At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Yang Xiong, a native of Shu County, was very studious and fond of Ci and Fu. His "Yu Li Fu" and "Fan Li Sao" were very famous. His life was very miserable, and "his family property was only ten gold, but there was no reserve for Danshi". He was willing to be poor, and never deliberately pursued fame and fortune. He served as the Minister of Huangmen, and served emperor Cheng, Emperor AI, and Emperor Ping, but he was not promoted.

Chinese PinYin : jiā wú dàn shí