📖 Meaning
This idiom means making a one-foot-deep stretch of water seem like towering waves — a metaphor for exaggerating one's speech until it no longer matches reality. It describes someone who blows trivial matters out of proportion and speaks in an untruthful, overstated manner.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom comes from the Tang dynasty poet Meng Jiao's poem "A Gentleman Should Not Be Gloomy; A Scholar Falsely Accused — A Poem Offered to Him," in which he writes: "Know that a single foot of water can, day and night, heap up ever-higher waves." Meng Jiao (751–814), one of the great poets of the Tang dynasty, used the image of shallow water swelling into great waves to illustrate how false accusations and exaggerated words can grow monstrously from small beginnings. The saying warns that one should not trust or repeat embellished, untruthful talk.
💡 Example Usage
他说话总是尺水丈波，把一点小事渲染得惊天动地。
He always exaggerates in his speech, blowing a trivial matter up into something earth-shattering.
🏷️ Category
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🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 尺水丈波
- Pinyin: chǐ shuǐ zhàng bō
- Literal Translation: one chi of water, zhang-tall waves
- Category: Communication
- Characters: 4