Situations
錦上添花
금상첨화
jǐn shàng tiān huā
Geum-sang-cheom-hwa
錦
비단 금
上
위 상
添
더할 첨
花
꽃 화
Character by character
Meaning
Adding flowers to brocade — good on top of good.
Origin
From a line of verse by the Song poet and statesman Wang Anshi.
How it is used
Used when one more advantage lands on an already satisfying arrangement.
Hanja錦上添花
Simplified锦上添花
Korean reading금상첨화
Pinyinjǐn shàng tiān huā
Frequently asked questions
Q. What does Geum-sang-cheom-hwa mean?
錦上添花 · Adding flowers to brocade — good on top of good.
Q. Where does Geum-sang-cheom-hwa come from?
From a line of verse by the Song poet and statesman Wang Anshi.
Q. How is Geum-sang-cheom-hwa used?
Used when one more advantage lands on an already satisfying arrangement.
Idioms in the same group
四面楚歌 Sa-myeon-cho-gaChu songs on all four sides — surrounded with nowhere to turn.進退兩難 Jin-toe-yang-nanHard to advance and hard to retreat.累卵之危 Nu-ran-ji-wiAs precarious as a stack of eggs.風前燈火 Pung-jeon-deung-hwaA lamp flame before the wind — an extremely precarious state.五里霧中 O-ri-mu-jungInside a fog five li deep — completely unable to make sense of things.雪上加霜 Seol-sang-ga-sangFrost on top of snow — one misfortune stacked on another.
The idioms used in Korea mix phrases from the Chinese classics with ones coined in Korea. Where an expression is not used in China, the entry says so.