📖 Meaning
Bouncing balls, sun, and moon. A metaphor for time passing extremely swiftly, as rapidly as a bouncing pellet. It is used to express how quickly days and years fly by without one noticing.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from Tang dynasty poetry. The poet Han Yu (韩愈) wrote in his poem 'Autumn Thoughts' (秋怀) that worrying away the daylight hours, the sun and moon pass like bouncing balls. Another Tang poet, Du Mu (杜牧), referenced the same image in a poem to a friend, noting that ten autumns had slipped away like bouncing-ball days and moons. The image of a swiftly bouncing pellet (跳丸) conveys speed and elusiveness, capturing how fast time races away.
💡 Example Usage
回首往事，跳丸日月，三十年的时光仿佛就在昨天。
Looking back, time has flown by like bouncing balls—thirty years feel as if they were just yesterday.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 跳丸日月
- Pinyin: tiào wán rì yuè
- Literal Translation: bouncing, ball, sun, moon
- Category: Philosophy
- Characters: 4