衣锦还乡
yī jǐn huán xiāng
to return home rich and successful
Character by character
衣yī
wear
wear
锦jǐn
brocade
brocade
还huán
return
return
乡xiāng
home
home
Example
他在外面打拼了二十年，终于衣锦还乡，给村里修了一条路。
After twenty years of hard graft away from home, he came back a success and built the village a road.
Tone: positive (praise).
Usage and origin
还 is huán. 项羽 said wealth without going home is like “wearing embroidery at night”; in 195 BC 刘邦 went home to 沛 as emperor and sang his 大风歌. Can also be said wryly of someone showing off back home.
Learn this in Lesson 87 · HSK 6–7: 汉：一个朝代的名字 (The Han: a dynasty that named a people)
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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