📖 Meaning
Describes a woman of extraordinary beauty, so stunning that fish dive underwater and wild geese fall from the sky upon seeing her. It is a variant of the more common idiom 沉鱼落雁, evoking the same legendary image of beauty that overwhelms nature itself.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom originates from the Zhuangzi (《庄子·齐物论》), a foundational Daoist text from the Warring States period. In the passage, the philosopher Zhuangzi questions whether beauty is objective by noting that humans admire women like Mao Qiang and Li Ji, yet fish flee from them into the depths, birds fly away, and deer bolt in fright. The imagery was later condensed into the four-character phrase 鱼沉雁落 (and its variant 沉鱼落雁) to describe peerless feminine beauty. It became a stock literary expression in later poetry and drama.
💡 Example Usage
那女子容颜绝世，真有鱼沉雁落之姿，令满座宾客皆为之失神。
That woman's beauty was so peerless it possessed the power to make fish sink and geese fall, leaving every guest in the hall transfixed.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 鱼沉雁落
- Pinyin: yú chén yàn luò
- Literal Translation: fish sink, goose falls
- Category: Quality
- Characters: 4