spell

Jiǔ· Pei niyomu' ao

explain

A hair from nine cows.

Metaphor is a very small number in a very large number, which is insignificant.

source

Han Sima Qian's Letter of Appointment: "If the courtiers are brought to justice and punished, what is the difference with the nine-headed cattle and ants?"

structure

Too formal.

use

Generally used as subject, object and attribute.

Correct sb's pronunciation

"One" cannot be pronounced as "Y".

synonym

a drop in the ocean

a little bit

antonym

countless/innumerable

The list is endless.

example sentence

(1) Asking the big boss to give us this money to raise our salary is only nine Niu Yi points for him.

(2) He said modestly: "Compared with everyone's achievements, my contribution is only nine Niu Yi hairs, which is not worth mentioning."

English translation/ translator/ interpreter

Very few people

Idiom story

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty (Liu Che) was very happy to hear that Li Ling was leading troops into the Xiongnu border. At this time, many ministers jokingly congratulated the emperor on his wisdom and good use of people. Later, Li Ling was defeated and surrendered, and Emperor Wu was very angry. In turn, the ministers who congratulated Li Ling called Li Ling useless and disloyal. At this time, Sima Qian stood silently, and Emperor Wu of Han asked his advice on this matter. Sima Qian bluntly said that Li Ling had only 5,000 infantry, but was surrounded by 80,000 tarkan. However, he fought for more than ten days and killed more than ten thousand people. He is really a great general. Eventually, the road was cut off and the war stopped because the food ran out. Li Ling didn't really surrender, but was waiting for an opportunity to serve the country. His contribution can still make up for his failure. Emperor Wu listened to him defend Li Ling and satirized Li Guangli, the closest relative of the emperor, for attacking Xiongnu from the front, which made Sima Qian angry and put him in prison. The following year, Li Ling was misrepresented as a Xiongnu soldier. Emperor Wu killed Li Ling's mother and wife without making things clear. In order to cater to the emperor, Tingzhou framed Sima Qian on the charge of framing the emperor, and even gave Sima Qian the most cruel and humiliating "greedy punishment". Sima Qian was devastated and wanted to commit suicide when he was in pain; However, on second thought, the death of a lowly man like him, in the eyes of many rich people, is like "a drop in the ocean", which not only won't get sympathy, but also makes people laugh. So I decided to bear the burden of humiliation and use my life and time to write great historical records with difficulty and tenacity. The ancients said that people with great courage have great wisdom, and Sima Qian is such a person. He knew that in his time, it was better to die a dog than a person with no status or fame like him, so he lived bravely and finally completed the unprecedented great historical masterpiece Historical Records. Sima Qian told his friend Ren about this idea. Later, people derived the idiom "Nine Niu Yi hairs" from the sentence "Nine cows die with one hair" in Thaksin, which is used to describe that something or a certain person is only a part of the vast majority, just like a hair on nine cows.