📖 Meaning
An extremely rare opportunity or event that might occur only once in a millennium. It emphasizes how precious and hard to come by a particular chance is, urging one to seize it.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase originates from classical Chinese literature and is commonly attributed to the Tang dynasty. It appears in works describing opportunities so rare they would not be encountered even over a span of a thousand years. The idiom crystallized through widespread literary usage across Tang and Song dynasty prose, where scholars and officials used it to describe extraordinary historical moments or once-in-a-lifetime encounters worth acting upon.
💡 Example Usage
这次出国的机会千载难逢，你一定要好好把握。
This opportunity to go abroad is truly once in a lifetime — you must seize it.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 千载难逢
- Pinyin: qiān zǎi nán féng
- Literal Translation: thousand, years, difficult, to meet
- Category: Condition
- Characters: 4