JLPT N1Proverbs
画竜点睛を欠く
- Meaning
- ほぼ完成した物事の最も重要な最後の仕上げが欠けていること
- Explanation
- From the legend that adding the final pupils (睛) to a painting of a dragon made it ascend to heaven, it means that the crucial final touch is missing so the work is left incomplete. Unlike c3, which contrasts the completeness of the whole with the details, the point here is the lack of the "single most important element."
Original Japanese explanation
竜の絵に最後に瞳(睛)を描き入れると竜が天に昇ったという故事から、肝心な最後の仕上げが欠けて完成しないこと。全体と細部の完成度を対比する c3 とは違い、ここでは「最も重要な一点」の欠落が要点です。
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