熟羊胛 — “A metaphor for the swift passage of time”

Q: What is the Chinese definition of 熟羊胛?

羊胛：羊的肩胛。比喻时间过得很快

熟羊胛 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “a metaphor for the swift passage of time”. A brief period that seems to fly by surprisingly quickly, often referring to how quickly a short duration of time passes. Literally, “Cooked lamb shoulder”.

Frequency

熟羊胛 Pronunciation and Pinyin

熟羊胛 Character Breakdown

Stroke Order

Character	Pinyin	Strokes	Meaning
熟	shú	15	ripe, cooked, skilled, familiar
羊	yáng	6	sheep or goat
胛	jiǎ	9	shoulder blade

Example Sentence with 熟羊胛

时光如白驹过隙，一转眼，熟羊胛的功夫，孩子们都已长大成人，令人感慨万分。

Time flies like a white steed flashing past a crack; in the blink of an eye, in the time it takes to cook a lamb shoulder, the children have all grown into adults, which is truly emotional.

Origin and Story of 熟羊胛

During the Tang Dynasty, many nomadic tribes of the Tiele people resided in the northern regions. One such tribe was the Guligan, situated north of the Hanhai (a vast desert). This area was abundant in lily grass and famed for its excellent horses, capable of traveling a thousand li in a single day.

The Guligan territory bordered the sea to its north and was exceedingly distant from Chang'an, the Tang capital.

In this northern land, the days were remarkably long and the nights remarkably short. It was said that if one began cooking a lamb shoulder in the evening, by the time the meat was thoroughly cooked, dawn would already be breaking in the east.