Chinese idiom · 成语
削足适履
Meaning
To cut feet to fit shoes; to force conformity at great cost.
Character by character
Origin and story
Philosophical analogyHuainanzi (淮南子), Shuo Lin (說林), compares a harmful reversal of priorities with cutting feet to fit shoes and trimming a head to suit a cap. The surrounding passage concerns close family affection damaged by malicious interference. Something that should support a person has instead become a reason to injure that person.
There is no named shoemaker or customer in the source: it is an intentionally absurd comparison, not a recorded mutilation. The later idiom criticizes forcing real circumstances to conform to an unsuitable rule, model, or precedent. The error is preserving the wrong thing at the expense of the thing that matters.
Sources and further reading
In everyday life
为了套用旧表格而删掉重要信息，这不是削足适履吗？
Deleting important information just to fit an old form is forcing reality into the wrong mold.
Criticizes sacrificing essentials to an unsuitable format or rule.