素 面 朝 天

sù miàn cháo tiāndictionary entry

lit. to present oneself confidently to the emperor, without makeup (as did the sister of Yang Guifei 楊貴妃|杨贵妃[Yáng Guì fēi]) (idiom) / fig. (of a woman) to show one's natural features, without makeup / to present oneself just as one is, without artifice

Sources & editorial notes

Reference definitions: CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source release 2026-10-27T01:55:52Z. Imported 2026-10-27. Definition wording and meaning order are retained. Recognized pronunciation references are displayed with tone marks; the original source record is available below.

Source record: cd-8669a7470dd2dd32. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

素面朝天 素面朝天 [su4 mian4 chao2 tian1] /lit. to present oneself confidently to the emperor, without makeup (as did the sister of Yang Guifei 楊貴妃|杨贵妃[Yang2 Gui4 fei1]) (idiom)/fig. (of a woman) to show one's natural features, without makeup/to present oneself just as one is, without artifice/

Reference definitions and teaching material have separate provenance.

Reference information

The definitions above are from CC-CEDICT. Examples and usage notes are available on selected entries.

Character information

View the individual characters. Their meanings do not necessarily explain the meaning of the whole word.

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.