小冠子夏 — “An idiom referring to a person with poor eyesight”

Q: What is the Chinese definition of 小冠子夏?

指汉代杜钦。比喻眼睛不好的人

小冠子夏 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “an idiom referring to a person with poor eyesight”. Historically used to describe Du Qin. Literally, “Small-hat Zi Xia”.

Frequency

小冠子夏 Pronunciation and Pinyin

小冠子夏 Character Breakdown

Stroke Order

Character	Pinyin	Strokes	Meaning
小	xiǎo	3	small, little, young, minor
冠	guān	9	hat; crown; first place
子	zi	3	son, child, seed, small thing
夏	xià	10	summer season

Example Sentence with 小冠子夏

他虽然戴着眼镜，看书时还是得凑得很近，同事们私下都开玩笑说他是我们部门的“小冠子夏”。

Although he wears glasses, he still has to lean in close to read, so his colleagues jokingly call him our department's 'Small-hat Zi Xia' in private.

Origin and Story of 小冠子夏

Du Qin, the son of the famous Han Dynasty official Du Yannian, was a man of great learning. Despite his vast knowledge, he steadfastly refused to enter officialdom.

He and Du Ye from Maoling both shared the courtesy name Zixia, and their scholarship in the capital was comparable. Because Du Qin was blind in one eye, people called him 'Blind Du Zixia'.

Du Qin disliked being called blind the most, so he distinguished himself from Du Ye by wearing a small hat. From then on, people began to refer to him as 'Small-hat Zi Xia'.