Chinese idiom · 成语
髀肉复生
Meaning
To lament prolonged inactivity and ambitions left unfulfilled.
Character by character
Origin and story
Historical anecdotePei Songzhi’s commentary on Liu Bei’s biography in Sanguo Zhi (三國志), volume 32, quotes an account from Jiuzhou Chunqiu (九州春秋). Liu Bei says that constant riding once kept the flesh from his thighs; now that he no longer rides, it has grown back. What makes him sorrowful is not his appearance itself, but the passage of time: old age is approaching while his great undertaking remains unaccomplished.
The idiom turns that bodily reminder into an image of unused ability and wasted years. Its emotional center is frustration at prolonged inactivity, not a claim that Liu Bei had stopped caring about his ambitions.
Sources and further reading
In everyday life
闲了半年，他常有髀肉复生之叹，想找个新项目做。
After six idle months, he often lamented his inactivity and wanted a new project.
A literary expression, especially 有髀肉复生之叹; the regret concerns unused ambitions, not body size.