📖 Meaning
The brushstroke that dots the eyes — the finishing touch that brings a work of art or writing to life. It denotes the most vivid, inspired, and masterful passage in a piece of writing or artwork, the line that gives the whole its soul.
📜 Origin Story
Recorded in the Book of Jin (晋书), in the Biography of Gu Kaizhi, a celebrated painter of the Eastern Jin dynasty. Gu Kaizhi would often finish a figure painting yet leave the eyes unmarked for years. When asked why, he replied that the beauty or ugliness of the four limbs was not where the real wonder lay; conveying the spirit and true likeness depended entirely on the eyes. The anecdote gave rise to the metaphor of the eye-dotting stroke as the crucial, life-giving touch in any work.
💡 Example Usage
这段景物描写是全篇的点睛之笔，读后令人回味无穷。
This passage of scenery is the crowning touch of the whole essay, lingering in the mind long after reading.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 点睛之笔
- Pinyin: diǎn jīng zhī bǐ
- Literal Translation: dot, eye, of, brush-stroke
- Category: Quality
- Characters: 4