格格不入
- Literal
- resisting, resisting, it will not go in
- Figurative
- To not fit in at all; to clash with a setting, a set of ideas, or a group of people, like a piece that simply won't go into place.
Where does 格格不入 come from?
It doesn't come from a story: the meaning lies in the character 格, which here means neither "grid" nor "standard" but "to resist, to jam." In that sense it appears in the 《礼记》 (Book of Rites), in the chapter "Xueji" on teaching, which speaks of 扞格: if you forbid something after the bad habit has already taken root, teaching meets a resistance it cannot overcome. In the idiom, the doubled 格格 reinforces the idea of constant friction, and 不入 says the piece won't go in. Today it is used of people who don't fit into a group and of ideas or styles that are incompatible.
Source (出处): 《礼记·学记》
How is 格格不入 used? Two examples
- 他性格内向，在热闹的聚会上总显得格格不入。
He's an introvert, and at lively parties he always seems out of place.
- 这栋玻璃大楼和周围的老房子格格不入。
This glass tower clashes completely with the old houses around it.
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