📖 Meaning
This idiom joins two Han dynasty stories of wedded devotion: Zhang Chang painting his wife's eyebrows and Meng Guang lifting the food tray to her husband. It describes a husband and wife who treat each other with tender love and mutual respect.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase merges two love stories from the Han dynasty. Zhang Chang, a Western Han official, was fond of painting his wife's eyebrows, and the practice became gossip in Chang'an; when the emperor questioned him, he replied that in the privacy of the bedchamber there are things between husband and wife far more intimate than painting brows. In the Eastern Han, Meng Guang, wife of the scholar Liang Hong, served her husband's meals holding the tray up to the level of her brows as a mark of reverence. The two images together came to symbolize a marriage of mutual honor and affection.
💡 Example Usage
他们结婚多年，依然画眉举案，恩爱如初，令旁人羡慕不已。
After many years of marriage, they still lavish tender care and respect on each other, to the envy of everyone around them.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 画眉举案
- Pinyin: huà méi jǔ àn
- Literal Translation: paint the eyebrows, raise the tray
- Category: Lifestyle
- Characters: 4