豁然开朗
huò rán kāi lǎng
to open out all at once; to see the light suddenly
Character by character
豁huò
clear
clear
然rán
-ly
-ly
开kāi
open
open
朗lǎng
bright
bright
Example
这道题我想了好几天都没想通，听老师一讲，心里豁然开朗。
I had puzzled over that problem for days; once the teacher explained it, everything became clear.
Tone: positive (praise).
Usage and origin
From 《桃花源记》: past the narrow cave, the view suddenly opens. Used of a space opening up and, more often now, of sudden understanding. 豁 is huò here, not huō as in 豁口.
Learn this in Lesson 229 · HSK 9+: 课本里的古文 (Classical prose from the school textbook)
A dialogue, a reading, word cards with audio and a drill that uses it, in Learn Chinese with Bao. The first lessons of every level are free.
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