Chinese idiom · 成语
三从四德
Meaning
Three obediences, four virtues; traditional female roles.
Character by character
Origin and story
Historical social prescriptionThis expression joins prescriptions from two ritual texts. Commentary attached to the mourning-dress chapter of the Yili describes a woman's three successive obediences: to her father before marriage, her husband after marriage, and her son after her husband's death. The Zhouli's account of palace women separately lists instruction in conduct, speech, bearing, and work, the four categories later called the four virtues.
The combined phrase is attested in Dunhuang lyrics and Yuan drama. It became a shorthand for an older system of expectations that subordinated women's choices to family hierarchy. Explaining the phrase preserves that historical meaning; it does not present those restrictions as duties for women today.
Sources and further reading
In everyday life
读这部小说时，我们讨论了三从四德如何限制女性的选择。
While reading this novel, we discussed how the traditional three obediences and four virtues restricted women's choices.
Historical or critical discussion; not a neutral modern standard for women's behavior.