自命清高 — Chinese idiom

Meaning

• to think of oneself as high and pure ; smug and self-righteous
• holier-than-thou

Character by character

• 自zìself; private, personal; from
• 命mìnglife; destiny, fate, luck; an order, instruction
• 清qīngclean, pure; clear, distinct; peaceful
• 高gāotall, lofty; high, elevated

Idioms sharing a character

• 不敢自专 bù gǎn zì zhuān
• 不由自主 bù yóu zì zhǔ
• 不自量力 bù zì liàng lì
• 不言自明 bù yán zì míng
• 任其自然 rèn qí zì rán
• 作茧自缚 zuò jiǎn zì fù
• 优游自得 yōu yóu zì dé
• 出自肺腑 chū zì fèi fǔ
• 刚愎自用 gāng bì zì yòng
• 卑以自牧 bēi yǐ zì mù

Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3). Retrieved 2026-10-22.