促膝长谈

促膝長談

cùxīchángtán

idiom #33,572

Meanings

1 to sit knee-to-knee in long, intimate conversation
2 to have a heart-to-heart talk

Characters

to draw close; urgent

Examples

老朋友见面，促膝长谈到深夜。

Lǎo péngyou jiànmiàn, cùxīchángtán dào shēnyè.

When old friends met, they talked heart-to-heart deep into the night.

父子俩促膝长谈，终于解开了心结。

Fùzǐ liǎ cùxīchángtán, zhōngyú jiěkāi le xīnjié.

Father and son had a long heart-to-heart and finally untangled the knot between them.

Tips

memory

促 ('to draw close') + 膝 ('knees') + 长谈 ('long talk') = 'pull our knees close and talk at length'. The image is two people sitting on the floor or low seating in old-style Chinese rooms, knees almost touching — physically intimate posture for a deep, sincere conversation.

Stroke Order

促 cù

膝 xī

长 cháng

谈 tán