Metaphor research has a long history, dating back to Aristotle, who is considered as the pioneer in the field and a key proponent of the “substitution theory” of metaphor. In his Poetics, he expounded on the definition, structure, and rhetorical function of metaphor. Subsequently, metaphor research gave rise to “analogy theory” and the “interaction theory”, gradually shifting the focus from the lexical level to the sentence level and evolving from a purely rhetorical approach to a semantic one. In the 1980s, as metaphor research deepened, cognitive linguist George Lakoff and philosopher Mark Johnson revolutionized the field with their “conceptual metaphor” theory. Their co-authored book, Metaphors We Live By, published in 1980, marked the beginning of a new era in metaphor research by redefining metaphor as not merely a linguistic device but also a tool for human cognition and thought. The advent of conceptual metaphor theory attracted widespread attention from scholars, leading to ongoing interdisciplinary research that underscores its strong vitality and explanatory power.