78．毛部 hair

九nine牛ox一one毛hair

In the Han Dynasty, the great scholar and historian Sima Qian司马迁 was persecuted by the government. Sima Qian offended the government by supporting General Li Ling李凌 who, when faced with an utterly hopeless situation on the battlefield, had surrendered to the Huns.

To punish Sima Qian, the government had him castrated. Initially, Sima Qian was extremely humiliated and wanted to commit suicide. But later became convinced that his humiliation and death were of little importance. His death would be like pulling a single hair from nine oxen 九牛亡一毛. He realized his death would not help to change the emperor’s mind and people’s prejudice.

So he decided to live and endure the humiliation in order to continue his important mission: to finish his great book, Records of the Historian (《史记》). Later, people derived 九牛一毛from Sima Qian’s poetic turn of phrase to describe a very small minority.

【拼音】jiǔ niú yī máo

【解释】九头牛身上的一根毛，比喻极其微小。

【出处】汉·司马迁《报任少卿书》：“假令仆伏法受诛，若九牛亡一毛，与蝼蚁何以异？”

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