📖 Meaning
To trade one's golden hairpin for wine. It describes a state of poverty and destitution where one has fallen on hard times and must pawn or sell personal valuables just to afford something to drink.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom originates from a poem by the Tang dynasty poet Yuan Zhen (元稹), specifically from the first of his 'Three Poems Lamenting My Deceased Wife' (《三遣悲怀》). In the poem, Yuan Zhen recalls how his late wife, seeing that he had no proper clothes to wear, would search through her trunks for garments, and when he wanted wine she would pull off her golden hairpin to sell for drinks. The couple lived in poverty during Yuan Zhen's early, unsuccessful career. The phrase vividly captures both their material hardship and the wife's devoted love.
💡 Example Usage
他晚年穷困潦倒，竟至金钗换酒的地步。
In his later years he fell into such destitution that he had to pawn his wife's golden hairpin just to buy wine.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 金钗换酒
- Pinyin: jīn chāi huàn jiǔ
- Literal Translation: gold, hairpin, exchange, wine
- Category: Condition
- Characters: 4