耐人寻味
- Literal
- bearing people's search for its flavor
- Figurative
- Thought-provoking; said of a text, a remark, or a gesture with layers of meaning that keep you turning it over in your mind.
Where does 耐人寻味 come from?
It doesn't come from any particular story. 耐 means "to bear, to withstand" (as in 耐用, "durable"), and 寻味 is "to seek the flavor," that is, to savor something slowly to find out what it holds. What 耐人寻味 describes is something that stands up to being savored again and again without running dry. The image is one of taste, but it is used mostly in criticism and educated speech, of poems, films, or open endings. It can also be used, somewhat ironically, to point to an attitude or a silence that looks suspicious (他的沉默耐人寻味).
How is 耐人寻味 used? Two examples
- 这部电影的结尾很耐人寻味，看完我们讨论了一晚上。
The ending of this film gives you a lot to chew on; afterward we spent the whole evening discussing it.
- 公司突然换了负责人，这其中的原因耐人寻味。
The company suddenly replaced the person in charge, and the reasons behind it make you wonder.
In Wanyu, all 400 chengyu have audio on every sentence, and you can save them to your decks and review them with spaced repetition. Free.
