treat human life as worthless; act with utter disregard for human life
Tone colorsmāmámǎmàma
Meanings
1 sense · 3 examplesidiom
to treat human lives as worthless as weeds; to kill people arbitrarily; to act with utter disregard for human life
literaryDerived from '草菅' (weeds), comparing human lives to worthless grass. Used to describe tyrants, corrupt officials, or anyone who kills without remorse.
Nà那
gè个
bào暴
jūn君
cǎo草
jiān菅
rén人
mìng命
，
zuì最
zhōng终
bèi被
rén人
mín民
tuī推
fān翻
。
That tyrant treated human life as worthless and was eventually overthrown by the people.
Zài在
zhàn战
zhēng争
shí时
qī期
，
yǒu有
xiē些
jūn军
guān官
cǎo草
jiān菅
rén人
mìng命
，
suí随
yì意
qiāng枪
shā杀
fú俘
lǔ虏
。
During the war, some officers showed utter disregard for human life, arbitrarily shooting prisoners.
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Zhè这
zhǒng种
cǎo草
jiān菅
rén人
mìng命
de的
xíng行
wéi为
，
bì必
jiāng将
shòu受
dào到
fǎ法
lǜ律
de的
yán严
chéng惩
。
Such acts of arbitrary killing will surely be severely punished by law.