








鞠躬尽瘁,死而后已 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to serve with utmost devotion and diligence, exhausting all one's efforts until death; to work tirelessly and dedicate oneself completely until the very end of one's life”. Literally, “To bow and exert oneself to the utmost, stopping only after death”.
During the Three Kingdoms period, after Liu Bei, the ruler of the Shu Han kingdom, passed away, the weak and pleasure-seeking A Dou inherited the throne. He indulged in luxuries and delegated all military and political authority to Zhuge Liang.
Zhuge Liang, on the one hand, formed an alliance with the Kingdom of Wu to contend with the Kingdom of Wei, and on the other hand, he launched southern campaigns against Meng Huo. He actively prepared for two northern expeditions.
Before embarking on the final northern expedition, he penned the "Later Memorial on Campaigning" (") to A Dou, expressing his unwavering commitment to serve the country with utmost devotion until his dying day.

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Open the tool →鞠躬尽瘁,死而后已 (jū gōng jìn cuì , sǐ ér hòu yǐ) is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to serve with utmost devotion and diligence, exhausting all one's efforts until death; to work tirelessly and dedicate oneself completely until the very end of one's life”.
鞠躬尽瘁,死而后已 is pronounced jū gōng jìn cuì , sǐ ér hòu yǐ in Mandarin Chinese.
Literally, 鞠躬尽瘁,死而后已 means “to bow and exert oneself to the utmost, stopping only after death”. It is used to mean “to serve with utmost devotion and diligence, exhausting all one's efforts until death; to work tirelessly and dedicate oneself completely until the very end of one's life”.
鞠躬尽瘁,死而后已 comes from a classical Chinese story dating back to ancient China. The full story is on this page.
鞠躬:弯着身子,表示恭敬、谨慎;尽瘁:竭尽劳苦;已:停止。指勤勤恳恳,竭尽心力,到死为止。