灵丹妙药

靈丹妙藥

língdānmiàoyào

idiom #36,278

Meanings

1 miracle cure; panacea
2 a magical remedy
3 (fig.) a cure-all solution

Characters

efficacious; magical

elixir; cinnabar pill

wonderful; marvelous

Examples

世上没有解决所有问题的灵丹妙药。

Shì shàng méiyǒu jiějué suǒyǒu wèntí de língdānmiàoyào.

There's no cure-all in the world that solves every problem.

他们把这个改革方案当作灵丹妙药。

Tāmen bǎ zhège gǎigé fāng'àn dàngzuò língdānmiàoyào.

They're treating this reform plan as if it were a miracle cure.

这种药可不是什么灵丹妙药，别指望一吃就好。

Zhè zhǒng yào kě bù shì shénme língdānmiàoyào, bié zhǐwàng yī chī jiù hǎo.

This medicine is no magic bullet — don't expect to be cured the moment you take it.

Tips

history

From the Yuan play 《玩江亭》 (anonymous): "灵丹妙药都不用，吃的是生姜辣蒜大憨葱" — no need for magic elixirs; what we eat is ginger, garlic, and scallions. The phrase comes from Taoist alchemy (丹 refers to cinnabar-based elixirs) but is now mostly figurative.

usage

Most often used in the negative (没有…的灵丹妙药) to push back against "one-shot" thinking. Also common with 把…当作灵丹妙药 — "treat X as a cure-all."

Stroke Order

灵 líng

丹 dān

妙 miào

药 yào