📖 Meaning
It means literally bringing the dead back to life. It is used to praise a physician's remarkably skilled medical treatment, and by extension to describe rescuing something already beyond hope. The imagery of regrowing flesh on dried bones conveys restoring life and vitality to what was thought lost.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom has no documented origin story or attested classical source (出处无考). It belongs to a family of folk and literary expressions built on the ancient metaphor of resurrecting the dead, sharing its core imagery with the idiom 起死回生. The phrase was formed by analogy with the concept of reviving withered remains, and is used in later writing and speech primarily to laud extraordinary medical skill. As no specific dynasty or historical figure can be credited, its etymology remains speculative rather than textually verified.
💡 Example Usage
老中医医术高超，能让枯骨生肉，救活了无数垂危的病人。
The old physician's superb skill could make withered bones grow flesh, saving countless critically ill patients.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 枯骨生肉
- Pinyin: kū gǔ shēng ròu
- Literal Translation: withered bone, grow flesh
- Category: Recovery
- Characters: 4