📖 Meaning
To recount something from beginning to end exactly as it happened, leaving out no detail. It describes giving a thorough and complete account of an event's entire cause and process.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase traces back to the Han dynasty scholar Ban Gu's 'Western Capital Rhapsody' (西都赋), where the expression '元元本本' appears, meaning to examine matters from their very roots with exhaustive knowledge. Over time the characters shifted to '原原本本' in common usage. The idiom came to signify narrating events faithfully and completely, preserving the original sequence and details without omission.
💡 Example Usage
他把事情的经过原原本本地告诉了法官。
He told the judge the whole course of events from beginning to end, exactly as it happened.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 原原本本
- Pinyin: yuán yuán běn běn
- Literal Translation: origin, origin, root, root
- Category: Communication
- Characters: 4