📖 Meaning
To lie on one's back looking up at the ceiling while composing books. It describes someone wholly devoted to scholarly writing, indifferent to worldly pleasures. The phrase conveys a life of quiet, relentless dedication to authorship.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase originates from the 'Book of Liang' (梁书), in the biography of Xiao Wei, Prince Yuanxiang of Nanping (南平元襄王伟). Observing that most people in the world were uninterested in joy and diversion, the speaker lay on his back upon his bed, gazing up at the roof beams while composing his writings. He reflected that even after a thousand autumns and ten thousand generations, who would truly pass down such work. The anecdote captures the solitary, persevering spirit of a scholar devoted to his craft.
💡 Example Usage
他退休后仰屋著书，用十年时间完成了一部学术巨著。
After retirement, he devoted himself entirely to writing, spending ten years to complete a monumental academic work.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 仰屋著书
- Pinyin: yǎng wū zhù shū
- Literal Translation: look up, roof, write, book
- Category: Perseverance
- Characters: 4