📖 Meaning
This idiom describes someone who is fickle in love, constantly changing romantic partners. The imagery contrasts green and red—traditional metonyms for beautiful women—across evening and morning, suggesting affections shift as quickly as day turns to night. It conveys a lack of constancy and devotion in matters of the heart.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom does not trace to a specific classical text or historical anecdote. It is a later literary construction built on the traditional association of green (翠) and red (红) with feminine beauty, paired with dusk (暮) and dawn (朝) to convey the rapid and repeated shifting of one's romantic attentions. The structure echoes older idioms such as 朝秦暮楚, adapting the same morning-evening metaphor to the domain of love and fidelity.
💡 Example Usage
他生性风流，暮翠朝红，对感情从未专一过。
Fickle by nature, he constantly changes lovers and has never been faithful to anyone.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 暮翠朝红
- Pinyin: mù cuì cháo hóng
- Literal Translation: dusk, green, dawn, red
- Category: Attitude
- Characters: 4