📖 Meaning
Literally blowing one's own horn and beating one's own drum. It is a metaphor for boasting or blowing one's own trumpet. The idiom describes someone who excessively praises and promotes themselves.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom comes from Mao Dun's essay 'Contacting Reality, Learning from Lu Xun,' where he wrote that the Qing dynasty ruling clique's so-called 'great cause of revival,' which they had been boasting about, turned into a fleeting dream in the blink of an eye. The phrase uses the imagery of someone simultaneously playing a horn and beating a drum to draw attention to themselves. It has since become a common expression for self-aggrandizement and empty boasting.
💡 Example Usage
他没什么真本事，却总喜欢自吹自擂，同事们都很反感。
He has no real ability but always likes to blow his own trumpet, which disgusts his colleagues.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 自吹自擂
- Pinyin: zì chuī zì léi
- Literal Translation: self, blow, self, beat drum
- Category: Attitude
- Characters: 4