The New Dictionary.
Search dictionary
Chinese/Dictionary entry

昙花一现

tán huā yī xiàndictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
lit. the night-blooming cactus shows once / flash in the pan (idiom) / short-lived
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-f4faa29ac30020df. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

曇花一現 昙花一现 [tan2 hua1 yi1 xian4] /lit. the night-blooming cactus shows once/flash in the pan (idiom)/short-lived/

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.

Other forms in these source records: 曇花一現

  • 昙
    tán

    dark clouds

  • 花
    huā

    flower / blossom / CL:朵[duǒ],支[zhī],束[shù],把[bǎ],盆[pén],簇[cù] / fancy pattern / florid / to spend (money, time) / (coll.) lecherous / lustful / also pr. [wěi]

    Huā

    surname Hua

  • 一
    yī

    one / single / a (article) / as soon as / entire / whole / all / throughout / "one" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 1) / also pr. [yāo] for greater clarity when spelling out numbers digit by digit

  • 现
    xiàn

    to appear / present / now / existing / current

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.