The word 鸡肋 is formed by combining the character 鸡, meaning "chicken", and 肋, meaning "ribs", creating the literal term "chicken ribs". Its figurative meaning arises from a historical anecdote in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", where Cao Cao used it as a metaphor to describe something of little value or use, yet not worth discarding, thereby establishing its idiomatic sense.