📖 Meaning
To breathe in fresh air and expel stale air. Originally a Daoist breathing technique for nourishing the body and cultivating vital energy. Metaphorically, it means to discard the old and embrace the new, constantly renewing oneself.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom first appears in a memorial written by Wang Ji, a Han Dynasty official, to Liu He, the Prince of Changyi (later briefly emperor). Wang Ji urged the prince to practice breathing exercises, advising him to 'inhale the fresh and exhale the stale to train the internal organs, concentrate the mind and accumulate essence to harmonize the spirit' as a method of health preservation. The phrase reflects early Chinese medical and Daoist beliefs about qi circulation and longevity.
💡 Example Usage
每天清晨到公园吸新吐故，对身体大有裨益。
Going to the park every morning to breathe in the fresh and expel the stale is greatly beneficial to one's health.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 吸新吐故
- Pinyin: xī xīn tǔ gù
- Literal Translation: inhale, new, exhale, old
- Category: Lifestyle
- Characters: 4