The word "吃醋" (chīcù), meaning "to be jealous", is formed from a vivid historical anecdote rather than a grammatical process. It originates from a story about the Tang Dynasty chancellor Fang Xuanling, whose wife, out of fierce devotion, famously chose to drink a cup of vinegar she believed was poison rather than allow him to take a concubine offered by the emperor. The sourness of the vinegar became a perfect metaphorical stand-in for the bitter, acrid feeling of romantic jealousy, transforming the literal act of "drinking vinegar" into a universally understood idiom for the emotional experience.