📖 Meaning
A metaphor for extremely rare and precious delicacies. It describes food or treasures so exquisite that they are almost mythical, typically used to emphasize the exceptional value or rarity of something.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom appears in the Ming Dynasty novel 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms' (三国演义) by Luo Guanzhong, in Chapter 36. When the strategist Xu Shu announces his departure, Liu Bei (Xuande) laments that losing him is like losing his right hand, and that even dragon's liver and phoenix marrow would lose all flavor to him. The phrase thus originated as a literary device conveying how grief strips the pleasure from the finest imaginable delicacies.
💡 Example Usage
宴席上的菜品虽非龙肝凤脑，却也十分精致可口。
The dishes at the banquet, while not as rare as dragon's liver or phoenix's brain, were nonetheless exquisite and delicious.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 龙肝凤脑
- Pinyin: lóng gān fèng nǎo
- Literal Translation: dragon, liver, phoenix, brain
- Category: Quality
- Characters: 4