📖 Meaning
Describes the appearance of an elderly person, with grey or mottled eyebrows and white hair. The character 庞 (páng) is used interchangeably with 厖, meaning mixed or mottled in color. It is a respectful, dignified way of evoking old age and its signs.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom has no single documented origin story; authoritative sources record no specific dynasty or figure behind it. It is built from two classical descriptive phrases, 庞眉 (mottled grey eyebrows) and 皓首 (a white head, i.e. white hair), which were commonly used in classical Chinese literary writing to portray the elderly. It is essentially a variant of the related expression 庞眉皓发, and phrases of this kind circulated in literary prose as graceful epithets for old age.
💡 Example Usage
村口那位庞眉皓首的老者，正坐在树下教孩子们识字。
That white-haired old man at the village entrance, with his mottled grey brows, was sitting under the tree teaching the children to read.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 庞眉皓首
- Pinyin: páng méi hào shǒu
- Literal Translation: mottled grey eyebrows, hoary head
- Category: Condition
- Characters: 4