📖 Meaning
Describes identical natural scenes or things appearing one after another without any interruption, stretching on unbroken over a long span. It conveys a sense of endless continuity, whether of mountains, rivers, crowds, or other sights.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom derives from the phrase 绵绵不绝 found in the chapter 《观周》 of 《孔子家语》 (The Family Sayings of Confucius), a collection of Confucian teachings compiled during the Han dynasty and transmitted through the Three Kingdoms scholar Wang Su. The text reads 涓涓不雍，终为江河；绵绵不绝，或成网罗, meaning that a trickling stream, if not blocked, will eventually become a great river, and threads that stretch on unbroken may come to form a net. This expresses the idea that small, continuous efforts accumulate into something vast, and the later form 绵延不断 was coined to emphasize scenes that extend without end.
💡 Example Usage
绵延不断的游行队伍正往这边涌来。
The endless stream of marchers was surging this way.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 绵延不断
- Pinyin: mián yán bù duàn
- Literal Translation: continuous, extending, not, breaking
- Category: Condition
- Characters: 4