prize one copper as highly as one 's life

prize one copper as highly as one 's life

As a Chinese idiom, Pinyin is y ī w é NR ú m ì ng, which means to value a penny as much as one's life. It means to be extremely mean. It comes from Wu Jingzi's scholars.

Idiom usage

To act as a predicate or attributive

Analysis of Idioms

Money is like life

The origin of Idioms

The fifty second chapter of Wu Jingzi's unofficial history of scholars in Qing Dynasty: "this man has a problem. He is very mean and penniless."

Idiom explanation

Take a penny as important as life. The metaphor is extreme stinginess. The same "money is like life".