📖 Meaning
A metaphor for continually adding on or appending extra details without end. It describes how people embellish or pile on additional elements, often making something more complicated than it needs to be. Commonly used to describe someone who exaggerates or pads out a story.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom originates from a letter by the Song dynasty Neo-Confucian philosopher Zhu Xi titled 'Reply to Huang Zigeng.' In the letter, Zhu Xi lamented that people of his time created endless obstacles for themselves, constantly adding branches and attaching leaves without any end in sight. The metaphor of adding branches and leaves to a tree vividly conveys the idea of piling on unnecessary complications. Over time, the phrase came to describe the act of continuously appending or embellishing something.
💡 Example Usage
他讲故事总爱添枝接叶，把简单的事说得天花乱坠。
He always loves to embellish when telling stories, turning simple matters into wildly exaggerated tales.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 添枝接叶
- Pinyin: tiān zhī jiē yè
- Literal Translation: add branches, attach leaves
- Category: Communication
- Characters: 4