📖 Meaning
To reveal everything completely, holding nothing back. It is used when someone discloses all information, secrets, or details without any reservation.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase traces back to Volume 16 of the Tianmu Zhongfeng Heshang Guanglu (天目中峰和尚广录), recorded by the Yuan dynasty Chan Buddhist master Mingben. The original form was '和盘托出,' meaning to bring out even the plate along with what it holds. In Buddhist teaching it described laying out the truth or Dharma entirely for the disciple. The idiom was later adopted in classical fiction, such as Li Baojia's Qing dynasty novel Wenming Xiaoshi (文明小史), to mean telling the whole story without concealment.
💡 Example Usage
在审讯室里，嫌疑人经过一番思想斗争后，终于把事情的经过全盘托出。
In the interrogation room, after some internal struggle, the suspect finally laid out the whole story of what happened.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 全盘托出
- Pinyin: quán pán tuō chū
- Literal Translation: whole, plate, hold out, come out
- Category: Communication
- Characters: 4