丢三落四 | careless and forgetful

diū丢sān三là落sì四

To be extremely careless and absent-minded, always losing or forgetting things; scatterbrained.

他总是丢三落四，出门不是忘了带钥匙就是忘了带手机。

He is always scatterbrained, either forgetting his keys or his phone when he leaves the house.

Era:

Early Modern

Frequency:

Synonym:

丢三拉四、粗枝大叶、马马虎虎

Antonym:

一丝不苟、谨小慎微

Story:

Liu Xianglian saved Xue Pan's life, and they became sworn brothers.

Jia Lian then arranged for his sister-in-law, You Sanjie, to marry Liu Xianglian.

However, Liu Xianglian heard rumors that You Sanjie had an affair with her brother-in-law, Jia Zhen, and demanded to break off the engagement.

Deeply wronged, You Sanjie took her own life to prove her innocence and uphold her honor.

Distraught, Liu Xianglian left worldly life to become a monk.

Xue Pan sent people to search for him but they couldn't find any trace. Aunt Xue remarked that as long as efforts were made, it was acceptable, to avoid being laughed at for being careless and forgetful in their actions.

Next Idiom