Chinese idiom · 成语
不稂不莠
Meaning
Originally, free of harmful weeds; later, unpromising or good-for-nothing.
Character by character
Origin and story
Literary expressionShijing (詩經), Xiao Ya: Da Tian (小雅·大田), describes grain growing well: its ears develop and become firm, without 稂 or 莠 among them. Both words name unwanted grasses. In that agricultural setting, their absence is a good sign, praising a field unspoiled by weeds.
Later usage changed sharply. In Dream of the Red Chamber, chapter 84, the phrase is applied critically to an unsuitable, unpromising young man whose marriage would harm a young woman’s prospects. The idiom thus has a literal older sense and a disparaging later one. It is not a neutral compliment for being average or harmless.
Sources and further reading
In everyday life
别因为他暂时没找到工作，就说他不稂不莠。
Do not call him good-for-nothing just because he has not found a job yet.
Rare and disparaging in its later sense; avoid treating it as neutral mediocrity.