with grey eyebrows and hoary hair

with grey eyebrows and hoary hair

Chinese idiom, Pinyin is m á n ɡ m é IH à of à, which means black and white eyebrows and white hair. It describes the appearance of old age. From the story of Hanwu,

The origin of Idioms

Han Wu story: "Yan Si, who I don't know, was a Lang when Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty. To Emperor Wu, he tasted Lang Shu and saw Si's eyebrows and hair

Idiom usage

As predicate, attributive, object; used of the elderly. Example: in the Southern Dynasty, Song Dynasty, Fan Ye's book of the later Han Dynasty, biography of Xunli, Liu Chong: "in Shanyin County, there are five or six old people with white eyebrows and hair, who come out of the valley as if they were evil."

Idiom story

During the Western Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty went to inspect the Lang office. He met Yan Si, a Lang official with bright eyebrows and white hair, and asked him when he was a Lang official? Yan Si said that he became a Langguan when he was Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty asked him why he didn't meet him when he was old? He said: "Emperor Wen is good at literature but his ministers are good at martial arts, Emperor Jing is old but his ministers are few, your majesty is young but his ministers are old, so I am still a Lang Guan."