📖 Meaning
Literally to brandish the pen and toy with ink. It originally meant deliberately twisting legal clauses and wording to cheat the law. In modern usage it usually refers to showing off literary skill or playing cleverly with words and rhetoric.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase comes from the biography of Wang Chong in the Sui Shu (Book of Sui), which describes him as well versed in laws and decrees yet given to manipulating legal wording, with intentions that shifted high and low. Wang Chong was a Sui dynasty official and later a pretender to the throne during the transition between the Sui and Tang dynasties. The historian's portrait uses the line to condemn officials who abuse their mastery of language to distort justice. Over time the meaning broadened from manipulating legal texts to flaunting literary technique in general.
💡 Example Usage
他写文章总爱舞文弄墨，结果反而让人不知所云。
He is always showing off his literary flair in his essays, with the result that no one can tell what he is trying to say.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 舞文弄墨
- Pinyin: wǔ wén nòng mò
- Literal Translation: wave, writing, play with, ink
- Category: Skill
- Characters: 4