无可厚非
- Literal
- cannot be harshly censured
- Figurative
- Understandable, if not beyond criticism: there may be a flaw, but it doesn't deserve harsh blame; milder than 无可非议, which means blameless.
Where does 无可厚非 come from?
It comes from the 《汉书》 (Book of Han), in the biography of Wang Mang, the minister who usurped the Han throne and founded the short-lived Xin dynasty. During a long war against rebel peoples in the southwest, a governor named Feng Ying refused to keep supplying the troops and proposed in a memorial that the army be withdrawn. Wang Mang, angered, dismissed him; later he thought better of it, acknowledged that Feng Ying could not be harshly censured either, and gave him another post. Today it is used to concede that something is understandable, and a "but" (但是…) usually follows.
Source (出处): 《汉书·王莽传》
How is 无可厚非 used? Two examples
- 孩子考前紧张、发点脾气也无可厚非，别太责怪他。
It's understandable for a kid to be tense and a bit short-tempered before an exam; don't be too hard on him.
- 公司想多赚钱无可厚非，但不能靠欺骗顾客。
It's understandable for a company to want to earn more, but not by cheating its customers.
In Wanyu, all 400 chengyu have audio on every sentence, and you can save them to your decks and review them with spaced repetition. Free.
