📖 Meaning
悬车 means to hang up one's carriage. In ancient times, officials customarily retired at age seventy, abandoning the use of their carriage. The idiom refers to the age of seventy, marking the traditional age for retirement from official office.
📜 Origin Story
The term appears in the Book of Jin (晋书·刘毅传), which recounts how Zheng Wugong of the state of Zheng served as Minister of Education (司徒) for the Zhou court past the age of eighty, noting that even beyond the age of hanging up one's carriage, a person could still be of use. The Tang dynasty poet Xu Hun referenced it in the preface to his poem congratulating a Grand Master (少师) on retiring, noting the official had requested retirement before even reaching the carriage-hanging age. Over time the phrase became a literary shorthand for the age of seventy.
💡 Example Usage
他虽已过悬车之年，仍精神矍铄，坚持每日读书写作。
Though past the age of retirement, he remains hale and spirited, persisting in reading and writing every day.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 悬车之年
- Pinyin: xuán chē zhī nián
- Literal Translation: hang up, carriage, of, year
- Category: Status
- Characters: 4