曇花一現

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See also: 昙花一现

Chinese

Dutchman's pipe cactus; queen of the night
one; single; a
one; single; a; (before verbs) as soon as, once; (before a noun) entire (family, etc.)
 
appear; present; now
appear; present; now; existing; current
 
trad. (曇花一現) 曇花 一 現
simp. (昙花一现) 昙花 一 现
Literally: “flower of the cluster fig (Ficus racemosa) only shows itself for a short time”.

Etymology

曇花／昙花 (tánhuā) is short for 優曇婆羅花／优昙婆罗花 (yōutánpóluó huā), a transcription of Sanskrit उडुम्बर (uḍumbara, “cluster fig (Ficus racemosa)”).

Uḍumbara is a sacred tree in Buddhism; its flowers are enclosed within its fruit, and the tree is said to bloom only once every 3000 years, thus it symbolises events of rare occurrence.

Pronunciation

Idiom

曇花一現

  1. like a flash in the pan; ephemeral; short-lived; not long-term
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