📖 Meaning
This idiom describes the passage of time as the sun and moon cycle through the sky. It conveys how days and months pass steadily and inexorably. It is equivalent to the variant '日往月来' (the sun goes and the moon comes).
📜 Origin Story
The phrase originates from the Tang dynasty poet Liu Shang's work 'Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute' (胡笳十八拍), specifically the twelfth song. The line reads, '日来月往相催迁，迢迢星岁欲周天,' describing how time presses on as days and months alternate, and the long years nearly complete a full celestial cycle. The idiom thus evokes a sense of relentless, inevitable passage of time. It later appeared in classical vernacular literature such as '警世通言' (Stories to Caution the World).
💡 Example Usage
日来月往，转眼间孩子已长大成人。
As the days and months went by, in the blink of an eye the child had grown into an adult.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 日来月往
- Pinyin: rì lái yuè wǎng
- Literal Translation: sun, come, moon, go
- Category: Philosophy
- Characters: 4