Su-sin-je-ga

修

닦을 수

身

몸 신

齊

가지런할 제

家

집 가

Character by character

Meaning

Cultivate yourself and put your household in order.

Origin

The first four characters of the Great Learning’s sequence: cultivate the self, order the family, govern the state, bring peace to the world.

How it is used

Quoted to say that governing others must begin with governing oneself.

Hanja修身齊家

Simplified修身齐家

Korean reading수신제가

Pinyinxiū shēn qí jiā

Frequently asked questions

Q. What does Su-sin-je-ga mean?

修身齊家 · Cultivate yourself and put your household in order.

Q. Where does Su-sin-je-ga come from?

The first four characters of the Great Learning’s sequence: cultivate the self, order the family, govern the state, bring peace to the world.

Q. How is Su-sin-je-ga used?

Quoted to say that governing others must begin with governing oneself.

Idioms in the same group

有備無患 Yu-bi-mu-hwanIf you prepare in advance, there is nothing to worry about.易地思之 Yeok-ji-sa-jiThink about it after swapping places with the other person.初志一貫 Cho-ji-il-gwanCarry the resolve you started with all the way through, unchanged.名不虛傳 Myeong-bul-heo-jeonThe reputation was not passed on in vain — it lives up to the name.靑出於藍 Cheong-chul-eo-ramThe blue drawn from the indigo plant is bluer than the plant — the student surpasses the teacher.大器晩成 Dae-gi-man-seongA great vessel takes long to finish — those destined for greatness succeed late.

The idioms used in Korea mix phrases from the Chinese classics with ones coined in Korea. Where an expression is not used in China, the entry says so.