Chinese idiom · 成语
言简意赅
Meaning
Words simple, meaning complete; concise and clear.
Character by character
Origin and story
literary usageA documented use appears in the Draft History of Qing's biography of the scholar Chen Huan. It records his admiration for the Mao commentary on the Book of Songs, whose brief explanations he considered complete in meaning, and connects that judgment with his concentrated study of the commentary. Cui Shu likewise praised concise, meaningful writing using a closely related written form. These are examples of a critical ideal, not an origin legend: brevity should preserve the substance rather than merely reduce the word count. The expression now praises speech or writing that communicates everything necessary without unnecessary elaboration.
Sources and further reading
In everyday life
请把通知写得言简意赅，让家长马上看懂时间和地点。
Please make the notice concise and complete so parents can immediately understand when and where.
Praises brevity that retains the necessary meaning, not a message so short that it becomes unclear.