Chinese idiom · 成语
悬梁刺股
Meaning
To tie hair to a beam and prick thighs; to study diligently despite hardship.
Character by character
Origin and story
Traditional anecdotesThis idiom joins two separate accounts of strenuous study. Taiping Yulan (太平御覽), volume 363, preserves a passage about Sun Jing, who studied morning and night and tied his hair to a roof beam when sleepy. The Su Qin account in Zhanguo Ce (戰國策), Qin Ce I, says that after unsuccessful persuasion in Qin and a humiliating return home, he studied intensely and pricked his thigh with an awl to resist sleep.
Its conventional praise is for dedication to learning. The harmful physical methods belong to the old anecdotes, not sensible advice for students.
In everyday life
准备资格考试时，他拿出了悬梁刺股的精神，坚持每天复习。
While preparing for his qualification exam, he showed intense dedication and studied every day.
Use figuratively for determined study, not literal self-injury or sleep deprivation.