薏苡明珠 — “To be slandered or falsely accused”

薏苡明珠 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to be slandered or falsely accused”. To suffer injustice due to malicious gossip or misunderstanding. Literally, “Job's tears mistaken for bright pearls”.

Frequency

薏苡明珠 Pronunciation and Pinyin

薏苡明珠 Character Breakdown

Stroke Order

Character	Pinyin	Strokes	Meaning
薏	yì	16	Coix seed
苡	yǐ	7	Job's tears plant
明	míng	8	bright, clear, understand
珠	zhū	10	Pearl or bead

Example Sentence with 薏苡明珠

他因工作上的小失误受到不公正的批评，感觉自己真是薏苡明珠，有苦难言。

When he was unfairly criticized for a minor work error, he felt like he was suffering the injustice of "Job's tears mistaken for bright pearls," with no way to explain himself.

Origin and Story of 薏苡明珠

During the early Eastern Han Dynasty, General Ma Yuan led a military expedition to Jiaozhi (modern-day Vietnam). While there, he discovered Job's tears ("薏苡"), a type of grain whose seeds resembled pearls. He found them beneficial for health and for combating the local miasma, so he collected a large quantity with the intention of cultivating them back home.

However, on his return journey, Ma Yuan fell ill and died. Taking advantage of the situation, Liang Song, a court official, maliciously accused Ma Yuan of embezzling a vast amount of precious pearls.

To clear her late husband's name and preserve his posthumous honors, Ma Yuan's wife presented the collected Job's tears to the emperor, revealing the truth behind the 'pearls' and thus debunking the slander.