📖 Meaning
A metaphor for extreme, painstaking dedication to study or research. The image evokes physically carving one's heart and piercing one's liver — a vivid expression of the suffering and perseverance endured in pursuit of knowledge.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom belongs to a Chinese tradition of expressions that use vivid self-mortification imagery to convey scholarly devotion, akin to the famous stories of Su Qin pricking his thigh with an awl and Sun Jing hanging his hair from a beam to stay awake while studying. The character 镂 means to engrave or carve, while 鉥 refers to a long needle-like awl used for piercing — together forming an image of internal suffering for the sake of learning. Unlike idioms with a single canonical source, this compound circulated across later classical prose as a learned metaphor for relentless effort. It is most associated with literary texts celebrating a scholar's sacrifice and commitment to their craft.
💡 Example Usage
为了完成这部学术巨著，他镂心鉥肝十余年，终于获得了学界的认可。
To complete this monumental scholarly work, he devoted himself with excruciating diligence for over ten years and finally won the academic community's recognition.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 镂心鉥肝
- Pinyin: lòu xīn fèng gān
- Literal Translation: carve heart, pierce liver
- Category: Perseverance
- Characters: 4