📖 Meaning
Describes unrestrained and exuberant merrymaking or play carried to the utmost degree. It also refers to literary writing that is fluent, vigorous, and thoroughly expressive, flowing without constraint.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from Ouyang Xiu's preface to 'Collected Works of Shi Miyan' (《释秘演集》序) in the Northern Song Dynasty. Ouyang Xiu recounted how the poet Shi Yannian (曼卿) found no outlet for his talents in officialdom and refused to compromise his principles to seek favor. With his ambitions thwarted, Shi would often join commoners and village elders in unrestrained revelry, throwing himself into it completely without ever growing tired. Ouyang Xiu used '酣嬉淋漓' to capture this spirit of total, unbridled abandon, which later extended to describe writing that pours forth with similar unrestrained vigor.
💡 Example Usage
这篇赋文酣嬉淋漓，读来令人拍案叫绝。
This rhapsody flows with unrestrained vigor and fluency, so thrilling that one cannot help but pound the table in admiration.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 酣嬉淋漓
- Pinyin: hān xī lín lí
- Literal Translation: hearty, frolic, dripping, thoroughly
- Category: Communication
- Characters: 4