📖 Meaning
Tan (覃) means deeply or profoundly. The idiom describes devoting oneself with focused effort to research and study while thinking deeply and thoroughly. It emphasizes concentrated intellectual dedication to understanding a subject.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase appears in 'Sanfu Huangtu' (Records of the Three Regions), which records that the scholar Liu Xiang, at the end of Emperor Cheng of Han's reign, collated imperial texts at Tianlu Pavilion while devoting himself to deep study and thought. It is also cited in the 'Book of Northern Qi: Biography of Feng Wei,' which describes how Feng Wei returned to his hometown and kept his door closed for nearly thirty years, disregarding livelihood and socializing, devoting himself entirely to deep study until he mastered all fields of knowledge.
💡 Example Usage
他为了攻克这道难题，闭门专精覃思，连续数月不曾外出。
To solve this difficult problem, he shut himself away and devoted himself to deep study and thought, not stepping outside for months.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 专精覃思
- Pinyin: zhuān jīng tán sī
- Literal Translation: devote, essence, deep, think
- Category: Learning
- Characters: 4