📖 Meaning
This idiom describes friendship between people that is extremely deep and unwavering. It compares the strength of a true bond to metal that can cut through anything, and the words of like-minded friends to the fragrance of orchids. It is used to praise friends whose relationship is as close as that of siblings or sworn comrades.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom comes from the Xici Zhuan (Commentary on the Appended Phrases), part of the I Ching (Zhou Yi), traditionally associated with the Zhou dynasty and attributed to Confucius and his school. The source line reads: "When two people are of one mind, their sharpness can cut metal; the words of like-minded people are as fragrant as orchids." From this famous passage, later writers extracted the image of metal and orchid to symbolize an unbreakable, harmonious friendship, and the phrase 契若金兰 became a fixed expression for profound mutual devotion.
💡 Example Usage
我与老友契若金兰，数十年风雨同舟，情谊始终如一。
My old friend and I are as closely united as metal and orchid, having weathered decades of storms together with our bond unchanged.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 契若金兰
- Pinyin: qì ruò jīn lán
- Literal Translation: united, as gold, as orchid
- Category: Emotion
- Characters: 4