📖 Meaning
Verbose and rambling speech that is tangled and disorganized, like branches and creeping vines. It describes language that is unnecessarily complicated, repetitive, and full of irrelevant digressions rather than being concise and to the point.
📜 Origin Story
This phrase appears in the late Qing dynasty publication《民报》(The People's Journal), specifically in an essay refuting revolutionary arguments published in《新民丛报》. The author stated that when rebutting opponents, he listed their main points and addressed each one systematically, without resorting to rambling, redundant arguments. The metaphor compares excessive, disordered speech to overgrown branches and creeping vines that obscure rather than illuminate.
💡 Example Usage
这篇评论文章枝辞蔓语，让人抓不住重点。
This commentary is so verbose and rambling that one cannot grasp its main point.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 枝辞蔓语
- Pinyin: zhī cí màn yǔ
- Literal Translation: branches, words, vines, speech
- Category: Communication
- Characters: 4