天经地义
- Literal
- the constant of heaven, the rightness of earth
- Figurative
- Something so right and natural that it is taken as beyond question: it goes without saying, and nobody thinks to argue with it.
Where does 天经地义 come from?
It comes from the Zuozhuan, the great chronicle of the Spring and Autumn period. In an exchange recorded under the twenty-fifth year of Duke Zhao, a minister of Zheng explains to a nobleman of Jin what ritual is, repeating what the statesman Zichan had said: ritual is "the constant of heaven, the rightness of earth, and the conduct of the people" — an order people live by without anyone having to justify it. The first two clauses became the idiom. Today it is used well outside any ritual context, for whatever is treated as self-evident, and sometimes pointedly, about someone who takes for granted what is not so obvious at all.
Source (出处): 《左传》
How is 天经地义 used? Two examples
- 父母照顾孩子是天经地义的事。
Parents taking care of their children is simply taken for granted.
- 他觉得加班不给钱是天经地义，我可不这么想。
He takes it as a given that overtime goes unpaid; I don't see it that way at all.
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