春风得意马蹄疾

春風得意馬蹄疾

chūnfēngdéyìmǎtíjí

phrase

Meanings

1 flushed with success, my horse's hooves fly fast
2 riding high on the spring breeze, the horse gallops joyfully

Characters

to get / attain

wish (得意 = pleased / flushed with success)

Examples

春风得意马蹄疾，一日看尽长安花。

Chūnfēng déyì mǎtí jí, yī rì kàn jìn Cháng'ān huā.

Flushed with success the hooves fly fast — in a single day I see all the flowers of Chang'an.

考上理想大学后，他春风得意马蹄疾，一路顺利。

Kǎoshàng lǐxiǎng dàxué hòu, tā chūnfēng déyì mǎtí jí, yī lù shùnlì.

After getting into his dream university, he was flushed with success and everything went smoothly.

Tips

history

From Meng Jiao's 《登科后》 (Tang dynasty), written after he passed the imperial exam at age 46 on his third attempt: 昔日龌龊不足夸，今朝放荡思无涯。春风得意马蹄疾，一日看尽长安花。 Meng Jiao's exuberance gave Chinese the phrase 春风得意 for any flush of success.

usage

Usually quoted with 一日看尽长安花 as the full couplet. Modern use mainly refers to career or exam success.

Stroke Order

春 chūn

风 fēng

得 dé

意 yì

马 mǎ

蹄 tí

疾 jí