📖 Meaning
Describes a person who is extremely emaciated and frail from prolonged illness, with bones visible through wasted flesh. The phrase conveys a state of physical decay where the body has become thin, weak, and barely functional. It emphasizes the devastating toll that sickness has taken on one's frame.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from the Song dynasty poet Lu You (陆游), who used it in his poem '病起书怀' (Writing Feelings Upon Recovery from Illness). The line reads '病骨支离纱帽宽,' describing how his emaciated frame made even his gauze hat feel loose and oversized. Lu You, a patriot poet known for his fervent desire to reclaim lost territory, wrote this while ailing and politically sidelined, using his wasted body as a metaphor for the weakened state of the nation.
💡 Example Usage
久病不愈的他已病骨支离，连走路都需要人搀扶。
After a long illness, he had become so emaciated and frail that he needed someone's arm to walk.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 病骨支离
- Pinyin: bìng gǔ zhī lí
- Literal Translation: sick, bone, broken and scattered
- Category: Condition
- Characters: 4