📖 Meaning
Originally referring to the legend of an immortal riding a yellow crane away and never returning. It is now used as a metaphor for someone or something that has vanished without a trace or whose whereabouts remain completely unknown.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom stems from a legend recorded in 'Shuyi Ji' (Tales of the Strange) by Ren Fang of the Southern Dynasties Liang period, in which a man named Xun Gui was resting at the Yellow Crane Tower in Jiangxia and saw a figure descend from the clouds riding a crane. The two enjoyed a pleasant conversation before the guest mounted his crane, soared into the sky, and vanished into the mist. The Tang dynasty poet Cui Hao later immortalized this legend in his famous poem 'Yellow Crane Tower,' writing that the yellow crane once gone never returns, while white clouds drift emptily for a thousand years. From this story the phrase came to describe anyone or anything that disappears completely.
💡 Example Usage
他离开家后就杳如黄鹤，再也没有任何消息。
After leaving home, he vanished like the yellow crane and was never heard from again.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 杳如黄鹤
- Pinyin: yǎo rú huáng hè
- Literal Translation: gone without trace, like, yellow crane
- Category: Condition
- Characters: 4