Describes a situation where good and bad elements, whether people or things, are mixed together, making it difficult to differentiate them or indicating an uneven quality within a group; a mixed bag.
Era:
Early Modern
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The idiom "良莠不齐" (liáng yǒu bù qí) literally means "good and weeds are not uniform."
Its origin is often associated with the phrase "不郎不秀" (bù láng bù xiù) from the Ming Dynasty, as recorded in Tian Yiheng's "Liu Qing Zha Ji." During the Yuan Dynasty, people were categorized into ranks like "郎 (lang)," "官 (guan)," and "秀 (xiu)," with "秀" being the highest and "郎" the lowest.
By the Ming Dynasty, the term "不郎不秀" emerged to describe individuals who were neither excellent nor completely unskilled, metaphorically 'neither a '郎' nor a '秀' - someone of middling ability or who couldn't find their place, being 'neither high-achieving nor low-settling.' The text suggests that "良莠不齐" was used similarly to describe those who were "高不成、低不就" (can't achieve great things, nor settle for low ones).
While "不郎不秀" primarily referred to individuals of mediocre talent, "良莠不齐" broadly describes a situation where elements of varying quality are mixed together within a group or collection.