喜上眉梢

xǐshàngméishāo
idiom #58,568

Meanings

  1. 1 joy reaching the tips of the eyebrows
  2. 2 delight written all over one's face; beaming with happiness

Examples

Tīng dào sūnzi kǎo shàng dàxué de xiāoxi, nǎinai xǐshàngméishāo.
Hearing that her grandson got into university, Grandma was beaming with joy.
Tā gāng ná dào gōngzī, xǐshàngméishāo de zǒu chū bàngōngshì.
He'd just gotten his paycheck and walked out of the office with delight written all over his face.

Tips

history
Found in the late-Qing novel 《儿女英雄》: 思索得了主意不觉喜上眉梢 — 'After much thought he hit on a plan, and joy unconsciously rose to his brows.'
culture
In Chinese folk art, this is often illustrated with magpies (喜鹊) perched on plum () branches — a visual pun, since (méi, plum) sounds like (méi, eyebrow).

Stroke Order

shàng
méi
shāo