📖 Meaning
To put on airs and act pretentiously. It describes someone who deliberately puts on a show to appear important, knowledgeable, or formidable. The phrase conveys false display and affectation, feigning wisdom or authority one does not possess.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from the Ming dynasty story collection Stories to Awaken the World (醒世恒言) by Feng Menglong, in the tale 'The Oil Seller Wins the Courtesan' (卖油郎独占花魁). The passage describes how powerful men refuse to pay money yet seek to take advantage of courtesans, while when a few are willing to offer silver, the courtesan girl finds faults and puts on airs, refusing them. The expression thus originally depicted the affectation and pretentious posturing found in the pleasure quarters of Ming dynasty China. It also appears in the Water Margin (水浒传), where Ruan Xiaoqi mocks those who put on airs while trying to arrest him.
💡 Example Usage
他不过是个小小的办事员，却在人前做张做智，仿佛自己是什么大人物似的。
He is merely a petty clerk, yet he puts on airs before others as if he were some important figure.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 做张做智
- Pinyin: zuò zhāng zuò zhì
- Literal Translation: put on, airs, put on, cleverness
- Category: Attitude
- Characters: 4