📖 Meaning
White hair at the temples and frosted hair buns. It is a metaphorical description of the white hair of old age, used to refer to elderly people.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom draws on the classical Chinese poetic tradition of comparing white hair to snow and frost, both associated with whiteness and the passage of seasons. The compound pairs 鬓 (hair at the temples) with 鬟 (a woman's ring-shaped hair bun), evoking the image of an aged person whose hair has turned entirely white. It does not trace to a single canonical source but belongs to the stock of descriptive phrases common in vernacular fiction and drama.
💡 Example Usage
那位雪鬓霜鬟的老人依然每天清晨在公园里打太极拳。
The white-haired old man still practices tai chi in the park every morning.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 雪鬓霜鬟
- Pinyin: xuě bìn shuāng huán
- Literal Translation: snow, temple hair, frost, hair bun
- Category: Status
- Characters: 4