📖 Meaning
To pick up a writing brush and immediately finish composing. It describes someone with quick wit and agile literary talent who can produce written works effortlessly and without hesitation. The phrase highlights both speed and quality of composition.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from ancient Chinese literary culture, where the ability to compose texts rapidly was highly prized as a sign of intellectual brilliance. Scholars and officials who could draft memorials, poems, or essays at a moment's notice were admired for their sharp minds and vast learning. The phrase appears in various classical texts describing gifted literati who, when called upon to write, needed no deliberation and produced polished pieces instantly. It is also recorded in variant forms such as '援笔成章' and '援笔而就' in historical biographies of notably talented writers.
💡 Example Usage
面对皇帝的命题，他才思敏捷，援笔立成，一篇锦绣文章跃然纸上。
Faced with the emperor's assigned topic, his mind was so quick that he took up his brush and finished composing a brilliant piece on the spot.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 援笔立成
- Pinyin: yuán bǐ lì chéng
- Literal Translation: take up brush, immediately, complete
- Category: Skill
- Characters: 4