胯下蒲伏 — “To endure great humiliation or insult for a larger purpose”

胯下蒲伏 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to endure great humiliation or insult for a larger purpose”. To suffer disgrace without retaliation, often with a long-term goal in mind, much like Han Xin's humiliation under the ruffian's crotch. Literally, “Crawl under the crotch”.

Frequency

胯下蒲伏 Pronunciation and Pinyin

胯下蒲伏 Character Breakdown

Stroke Order

Character	Pinyin	Strokes	Meaning
胯	kuà	10	hip or groin
下	xià	3	below, down, next, to descend
蒲	pú	14	cattail or sweet flag
伏	fú	6	lie down or hide

Example Sentence with 胯下蒲伏

面对领导的误解和同事的刁难，他选择了胯下蒲伏，默默承受，只为完成眼前的项目，不与人争一时长短。

Faced with his boss's misunderstanding and colleagues' provocations, he chose to endure the humiliation, silently bearing it, all to complete the current project and avoid immediate conflict.

Origin and Story of 胯下蒲伏

Towards the end of the Qin Dynasty, Han Xin, a native of Huaiyin, was a cultured and gentle young man.

One day, a young ruffian in the marketplace, seeing Han Xin's seemingly weak demeanor, gathered a group of his cronies to taunt him. The ruffian challenged Han Xin, demanding that if he wanted to live, he must crawl between his legs. Realizing he was outnumbered and outmatched, Han Xin chose to endure the momentary humiliation and crawled under the ruffian's crotch.

Later, he became a brilliant strategist and military commander, helping Liu Bang achieve great success and establish the Han Dynasty.