📖 Meaning
To play wind and string instruments. 'Bamboo' refers to wind instruments made of bamboo, while 'silk' refers to stringed instruments with silk strings. The idiom describes the act of making music, especially with traditional Chinese instruments.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom draws on the traditional materials used to construct classical Chinese musical instruments. Wind instruments such as flutes and sheng were crafted from bamboo, while stringed instruments like the qin and zheng used silk strings. By combining 'bamboo' and 'silk,' the phrase evokes the full range of elegant instrumental music cherished in literati culture. No single literary source is definitively associated with this expression; it belongs to a family of phrases linking materials to the arts they produce.
💡 Example Usage
每逢佳节，府中乐师便弄竹弹丝，宾客尽欢。
Every festive occasion, the mansion's musicians would play wind and string instruments, and all the guests reveled in delight.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 弄竹弹丝
- Pinyin: nòng zhú dàn sī
- Literal Translation: play bamboo, pluck silk
- Category: Skill
- Characters: 4