📖 Meaning
Literally 'carved beams and painted pillars,' this idiom refers to buildings ornately decorated with carved woodwork and colorful painted rafters. It describes magnificent, luxuriously adorned architecture such as palaces and grand mansions.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase originates from the Yuan dynasty play 'Wandering into the Peach Blossom Spring' (误入桃源) by Wang Ziyi. In Act 2, the playwright vividly describes a fairy-tale palace with gleaming pearl halls, green tiles, red roof ridges, and towering painted beams and carved pillars. The idiom captures the splendor of this otherworldly architecture and was later used to describe any grand, ornately decorated building.
💡 Example Usage
这座宅院雕梁画栋，尽显主人的富贵气派。
This mansion, with its carved beams and painted pillars, fully displays the owner's wealth and grandeur.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 雕梁画栋
- Pinyin: diāo liáng huà dòng
- Literal Translation: carved, beams, painted, pillars
- Category: Quality
- Characters: 4