光天化日

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Chinese

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light; ray; bright day; sky; heaven
to make into; to change into; ‑ization
to make into; to change into; ‑ization; to ... ‑ize; to transform
 
day; sun; date
day; sun; date; day of the month; Japan (abbrev.)
 
trad. (光天化日)
simp. #(光天化日)

Etymology

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According to the scholar Hui Dong (惠棟), the original (or prescriptionist) form of 化日 in the phrase might have been 治日 (“enlightened, well-governed times”). In this theory, during much of the Tang Dynasty, the written corpus saw systematic censorship of the character (zhì) due to (huì, “naming taboo”) regarding the name of Li Zhi (李治), the Emperor Gaozong of Tang. The character (huà) was among the most frequently-used replacements, and its legacy continued to influence later generations, who went on to use where would be expected even if the taboo was no longer in force.[1]

Pronunciation

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Idiom

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光天化日

  1. in broad daylight

Synonyms

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References

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  1. ^ 惠棟 (1804) “列傳第三十九 王充 王符 仲長統”, in 後漢書補注[1] (in Chinese), volume 12:諱「治」,章懷《後漢書》隨文改易。⋯此篇「治國之日舒以長」改爲「化國」。後人因之,遂有「光天化日」之語,豈非郢書而燕說乎?