断袖之癖

duàn xiù zhī pǐduanxiuzhipi

  1. lit. cut sleeve (idiom); fig. euphemism for homosexuality, originating from History of Western Han 漢書|汉书: emperor Han Aidi (real name Liu Xin) was in bed with his lover Dong Xian, and had to attend a court audience that morning. Not wishing to awaken Dong Xian, who was sleeping with his head resting on the emperor's long robe sleeve, Aidi used a knife to cut off the lower half of his sleeve.

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Data from JMdict, KANJIDIC2 (EDRDG), KanjiVG, CC-CEDICT and Make Me a Hanzi. Sources and licences