📖 Meaning
To open one's throat and sing loudly and heartily. It describes singing with full voice, passion, and gusto, often conveying a sense of freedom and joy. The idiom paints a vivid picture of someone letting their voice ring out without restraint.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom comes from the modern Chinese writer Ye Shengtao (叶圣陶, 1894–1988), specifically his prose work 'After Drinking' (《醉后》). In the text, Ye describes women singing with long, drawn-out notes whose melody rises and falls gracefully. The phrase was later extracted and popularized as a four-character idiom to describe singing aloud with abandon.
💡 Example Usage
清晨，他在山顶引吭高歌，声音回荡在山谷中。
At dawn, he sang loudly at the top of the mountain, his voice echoing through the valley.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 引吭高歌
- Pinyin: yǐn háng gāo gē
- Literal Translation: pull, throat, high, sing
- Category: Action
- Characters: 4