📖 Meaning
To put on airs and assume an affected manner. It describes someone who deliberately speaks or acts in a pretentious way to impress others or elevate their own status.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom first appears in Cao Xueqin's classic novel 'Dream of the Red Chamber' (红楼梦), written during the Qing Dynasty. In Chapter 25, the character Jia Huan sits on Lady Wang's kang bed, has someone light candles for him, and then proceeds to copy texts with an exaggerated, self-important air. The phrase captures his pretentious behavior of acting more important than he actually is. Later, it also appears in Li Baojia's late Qing novel 'Officialdom Unmasked' (官场现形记), where it describes officials inflating their own importance through affected speech and mannerisms.
💡 Example Usage
他刚当上科长就拿腔做势，大家都不爱搭理他。
As soon as he became section chief, he started putting on airs, and now nobody wants to have anything to do with him.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 拿腔做势
- Pinyin: ná qiāng zuò shì
- Literal Translation: hold, tone, put on, manner
- Category: Attitude
- Characters: 4