禽兽不如 — “To be utterly devoid of human decency or morality”

Q: What is the Chinese definition of 禽兽不如?

连禽兽不如。形容人格低下，品行极坏

禽兽不如 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to be utterly devoid of human decency or morality”. To behave in a manner worse than an animal. Literally, “inferior to birds and beasts”.

Frequency

禽兽不如 Pronunciation and Pinyin

禽兽不如 Character Breakdown

Stroke Order

Character	Pinyin	Strokes	Meaning
禽	qín	13	birds and beasts
兽	shòu	11	beast, brute, animal
不	bù	4	not
如	rú	6	like, as, if

Example Sentence with 禽兽不如

为了自己的私利，他竟然做出如此残忍的事情，真是禽兽不如。

To achieve his selfish motives, he committed such a cruel act; he is truly worse than a beast.

Origin and Story of 禽兽不如

During the Three Kingdoms period, Ruan Ji, the chancellor of Dongping in the State of Wei, was exceptionally talented and quick-witted, much admired by Emperor Wen (Sima Zhao).

When Ruan Ji governed a prefecture, his laws were clear and simple, earning him the deep affection of the common people.

One day, he heard about a person who had killed his own mother. He remarked, "Killing one's father might be understandable in some extreme cases, but how could one possibly kill one's mother? Killing one's father is the act of a beast, but killing one's mother is even worse than a beast."