📖 Meaning
To emerge or appear one after another in an endless stream. It describes a continuous, inexhaustible succession of new things, events, or phenomena, emphasizing both frequency and boundless variety.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom traces back to the Tang Dynasty writer Han Yu (韩愈), who used the phrase '间见层出' (appearing intermittently yet in layers) in his 'Epitaph for Mr. Zhenyao' (《贞曜先生墓志铭》) to praise the inexhaustible creativity of literary composition. Later, the 'Tang History — Treatise on Arts and Letters' (《唐书·艺文志》) elaborated on how literary styles rise and fall with the ages, yet their transformations are boundless and never exhausted. Over time, the expression evolved into the fixed four-character idiom '层出不穷', solidifying its meaning of endless, successive emergence.
💡 Example Usage
网络上的新词层出不穷，让人应接不暇。
New slang terms emerge endlessly on the internet, making it hard to keep up.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 层出不穷
- Pinyin: céng chū bù qióng
- Literal Translation: layer, emerge, not, exhaust
- Category: Variety
- Characters: 4