锦上添花 — Chinese idiom
锦上添花
jǐn shàng tiān huā
Traditional: 錦上添花
Meaning
- (lit.) to add flowers to brocade
- (fig.) to make sth good even better; to add an extra (often nonessential) benefit or embellishment
Character by character
- 锦jǐnbrocade, tapestry; embroidered
- 上shàngabove, on top, superior; to go up; to attend; prev
- 添tiānto add, to append, to increase, to replenish
- 花huāflower, blossom; to spend (time or money)
Idioms sharing a character
- 花团锦簇 huā tuán jǐn cù
- 衣锦荣归 yī jǐn róng guī
- 衣锦还乡 yī jǐn huán xiāng
- 锦囊妙计 jǐn náng miào jì
- 锦衣玉食 jǐn yī yù shí
- 上下其手 shàng xià qí shǒu
- 上天入地 shàng tiān rù dì
- 上当受骗 shàng dàng shòu piàn
- 上行下效 shàng xíng xià xiào
- 力争上游 lì zhēng shàng yóu
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3). Retrieved 2026-10-22.