📖 Meaning
A metaphor for baring one's true heart and pouring out one's innermost thoughts, as if exposing one's liver and gallbladder. It also describes profound loyalty and sincerity. It is a variant of the more common idiom 披肝沥胆.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom is a variant of the well-known expression 披肝沥胆, which appears in classical Chinese literature tracing back to the Han dynasty. The metaphor draws on the visceral imagery of exposing the liver and gallbladder—organs associated with courage and sincerity in traditional Chinese thought—to represent baring one's innermost heart. Throughout the Tang and Song dynasties, officials and scholars used this phrase in memorials to the emperor, pledging absolute loyalty and candor. Over time it became a standard expression for heartfelt sincerity between close friends or between subject and sovereign.
💡 Example Usage
他在信中披沥肝胆，将多年来的委屈和盘托出。
He bared his heart in the letter, laying out all the grievances he had bottled up for years.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 披沥肝胆
- Pinyin: pī lì gān dǎn
- Literal Translation: expose, drip, liver, gallbladder
- Category: Communication
- Characters: 4