📖 Meaning
A metaphor for speaking with directness and power. It describes someone whose words are so clear and decisive that they cut through hesitation like wind being parted and water being cleaved. The phrase emphasizes forceful, unambiguous communication.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom appears in the late Qing dynasty novel 'Xu Niehaihua' (续孽海花, a sequel to Niehaihua), Chapter 42. In the story, a character praises another person's straightforward and decisive manner of speaking, remarking that such words are truly 'splitting wind and cleaving streams.' The remark was used to commend the resolute and powerful quality of the speaker's words, after which a decision was promptly finalized. The idiom has since been used to describe speech that is crisp, forceful, and leaves no room for ambiguity.
💡 Example Usage
他分风劈流地说出了自己的决定，让在场的人都心服口服。
He stated his decision with such forceful directness that everyone present was convinced.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 分风劈流
- Pinyin: fēn fēng pǐ liú
- Literal Translation: split, wind, cleave, flow
- Category: Communication
- Characters: 4