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夜郎自大 (やろうじだい) Japanese meaning | Kotomora
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夜や
郎ろう
自じ
大だい
な
態たい
度ど
に
は
周しゅう
囲い
も
呆あき
れ
て
いる
。
Everyone is fed up with his arrogant attitude, as if he were the king of Yelang.
He cannot escape the criticism of being a Yelang who thinks too highly of himself.
Related words 自惚うぬぼ れ 自惚れ is a common word for conceit or vanity, while 夜郎自大 is a literary yojijukugo specifically evoking the historical Yelang story to criticize arrogant ignorance of one's own limitations.
唯ゆい 我が 独どく 尊そん 唯我独尊 originally comes from Buddhist terminology meaning 'I alone am honored' and can describe self-centered arrogance, but 夜郎自大 emphasizes ignorance of one's own smallness rather than just self-importance.
Etymology From the Chinese historical anecdote in the Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji) about the king of Yelang, a small kingdom, who boasted to a Han envoy that his domain was greater than the Han empire, unaware of its true scale.
