📖 Meaning
Describes something vast, boundless, and without limit — like the open sea and endless sky. It often conveys a sense of unrestrained freedom, whether in thought, conversation, or physical space. It can also describe someone who talks expansively about many topics without sticking to a point.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom traces back to the Tang dynasty poet Liu Zongyuan (柳宗元), who in his poem wrote of vast seas and skies to evoke a feeling of limitless openness. It was later popularized in Song dynasty literature to describe both expansive natural scenery and the unbounded nature of human thought. Over centuries it evolved into a common expression for unrestrained speech or imagination, used in both literary and everyday contexts.
💡 Example Usage
两人在咖啡馆里聊得海阔天空，从天文地理一直谈到人生哲学。
The two chatted over coffee about everything under the sun, from astronomy and geography all the way to the philosophy of life.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 海阔天空
- Pinyin: hǎi kuò tiān kōng
- Literal Translation: sea, broad, sky, empty
- Category: Attitude
- Characters: 4