📖 Meaning
The lamp has gone out and the oil has dried up. It is a metaphor for a person's energy, resources, or finances being completely depleted. It describes a state of utter exhaustion with nothing left to sustain further effort.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom derives from the everyday observation of an oil lamp in old China. When the oil ran dry, the flame would sputter and die, leaving the room in darkness. Over time, this physical phenomenon became a metaphor for human vitality or material wealth being exhausted to the last drop. It appears in various classical literary works as a vivid image of irreversible decline. No single authoritative source is attributed to its first usage.
💡 Example Usage
连续加班一个月后，他已经灯尽油干，连站都站不稳了。
After working overtime for a month straight, he was completely drained of energy, barely able to stand.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 灯尽油干
- Pinyin: dēng jìn yóu gàn
- Literal Translation: lamp, exhausted, oil, dried
- Category: Condition
- Characters: 4