黄天焦日

huáng tiān jiāo rì
Literal: "yellow, sky, scorched, sun"

📖 Meaning

An expression meaning broad daylight or the height of daytime. It is equivalent to 大天白日, describing the bright, open hours of the day when the sun blazes overhead. Often used to emphasize that something happens openly during full daylight rather than under cover of darkness.

📜 Origin Story

This idiom appears in 周立波's novel 《山乡巨变》(Great Changes in a Mountain Village), a work from the 1950s depicting the agricultural cooperative movement in rural Hunan. In the text, a character remarks on the new social customs of the era, noting that men and women now mingle together openly in broad daylight, laughing and chatting freely. The phrase thus originated as a colloquial regional expression used in the author's depiction of rural life.

💡 Example Usage

他黄天焦日里翻墙进人家院子,把屋里的老太太吓了一大跳。

He climbed over the wall into someone's courtyard in broad daylight, giving the elderly woman inside a terrible fright.

🏷️ Category

➕ Similar Idioms

➖ Opposite Idioms

🔤 Quick Facts

  • Chinese: 黄天焦日
  • Pinyin: huáng tiān jiāo rì
  • Literal Translation: yellow, sky, scorched, sun
  • Category: Clarity
  • Characters: 4