📖 Meaning
Literally meaning soft sinews and brittle bones, this idiom metaphorically describes writing that is weak, feeble, and lacking in vigor. It criticizes literary works that may appear ornate on the surface but lack inner strength and substance.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from the preface to the collected works of Wang Junzi, written by the renowned Ming dynasty scholar Song Lian (1310–1381). In the preface, Song Lian observes that many scholars aspire to literature, yet they merely extract elegant phrases and arrange words like embroidery, producing works with soft sinews and brittle bones—decorated with superficial resemblance while vainly boasting of beauty. The metaphor of a frail physical constitution was thus applied to feeble, insubstantial literary style.
💡 Example Usage
这篇文章辞藻华丽却柔筋脆骨，读来毫无气力。
This essay is ornate in language yet weak and feeble in substance, leaving no impression of strength when read.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 柔筋脆骨
- Pinyin: róu jīn cuì gǔ
- Literal Translation: soft, sinew, brittle, bone
- Category: Quality
- Characters: 4