鹤立鸡群
- Literal
- a crane standing among a flock of chickens
- Figurative
- To stand head and shoulders above the rest; to be conspicuously outstanding among ordinary people thanks to one's talent or bearing.
Where does 鹤立鸡群 come from?
The phrase comes from a compliment paid to Ji Shao, son of Ji Kang, one of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove in the Jin dynasty. When Ji Shao first arrived in the capital, someone who saw him described him to Wang Rong, saying that amid the crowd his commanding, dignified bearing stood out "like a wild crane in a flock of chickens." From this came the lasting image of the tall, elegant crane towering over the common hens. The simile is recorded in the New Account of the Tales of the World, and the episode also appears in the Book of Jin.
Source (出处): 《晋书·嵇绍传》
How is 鹤立鸡群 used? Two examples
- 他个子很高，站在同学中间真是鹤立鸡群。
He's very tall; standing among his classmates he really stands head and shoulders above the rest.
- 在这次比赛中，她的表现鹤立鸡群，拿了第一名。
In this competition her performance stood out above everyone else's, and she took first place.
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