To mutilate the substance to fit the form
The gap between those first two lines is the whole point of a chengyu. It is quoted whole, never assembled, and the literal reading is a picture from the story below rather than a definition — which is why translating the four characters one at a time rarely gets you there.
The Huainanzi lists it among the acts of rulers who put their own convenience above the thing being governed: rather than find a shoe that fits, pare down the foot; rather than fix the cap, shave the head. The image has been the standard rebuke to procedure-worship ever since.
Source: 《淮南子》Huainanzi, 2nd century BC
The reading shown is the one each character takes inside this idiom — chengyu keep older readings, so it is not always the everyday one. The meanings are read from the same dictionary that powers the translators.
Want the stroke order for one of these? Each character links to its dictionary entry, which animates it.
削足适履 is pronounced xuē zú shì lǚ and means to mutilate the substance to fit the form. Literally it says "cut the foot to fit the shoe" — like most chengyu, the literal reading is a picture from a story rather than a definition.
《淮南子》Huainanzi, 2nd century BC. The Huainanzi lists it among the acts of rulers who put their own convenience above the thing being governed: rather than find a shoe that fits, pare down the foot; rather than fix the cap, shave the head. The image has been the standard rebuke to procedure-worship ever since.
xuē zú shì lǚ. Press the audio button on this page to hear it spoken by a native voice. Tones here are citation tones, so 一 is written yī even where it is said yí in running speech.
削 (xuē) Scrape; Reduce (cut), 足 (zú) Foot (ample - as much as - enough), 适 (shì) Suitable (fit - well - appropriate), 履 (lǚ) Shoe (tread on - walk on - step - carry out). These meanings come from the same dictionary as the translators on this site, and the reading shown is the one the character takes inside this idiom.
Yes. Chengyu are not archaic — they are ordinary educated speech, and they turn up in conversation, newspapers and exams. This one sits in the advanced band, which reflects how common it is and how hard its characters are.
Rebuild 削足适履 from scrambled tiles in the Chengyu Story Puzzle, test yourself on idiom meanings in the Chengyu Quiz, browse all the idioms, or save this one above and review it on your review deck.
Every idiom here comes with the story it was compressed from — that is the rule for being listed, and it is why they stick.
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