Chengyu dictionary

Question

I am looking for a chengyu dictionary with the following caracteristics:

• the stories behind the chengyus in englis (or with chinese too), long, not just one or two sentence
• explanation, when and how to use
• example sentences/conversations (in chinese and english)
• listed in frequency order (optional)

500 Common Chinese Idioms: An Annotated Frequency Dictionary would be a nice one but with long stories.

If anyone know this book please let me know!

Thanks!

Stone

Answer 1

I can recommend a book by 馮國超. My edition is from Taiwan and is simply called 成語故事, but the mainland edition is 中華成語故事, both from 2005 and in two volumes (with illustrations.) The Taiwan publisher is 代表作國際圖書.

In this book, each chengyu has a separate page. There is a small box explaining the four characters, basically restating the saying in contemporary language. The main text always begins by citing the source (這則成語出自 “史記 . 趙世家”, for example) and often includes a bit of the original in Classical Chinese. It then goes on to tell the story in a few paragraphs.

This book is in Chinese only. It provides useful background information, for instance if an ancient state is mentioned in the chengyu, or if the author is a certain Tang-dynasty literatus, it will tell you about them. It seems to be aimed at high school or college students.

Answer 2

A really good site that I like:

http://www.chinese-tools.com/chinese/chengyu

Some of the chengyu are well detailed; others, less so.

YMMV.

Answer 3

There are thousands of chengyu, so I think we need to narrow down what you're using this for. If it's to employ in daily usage because you are learning Mandarin and want to come across as more authentic, I would recommend looking at HSK lists as those are likely to contain the most frequently used chengyu by the majority of Mandarin speakers. There are loads of them on the internet.

I also found a website you might like: http://www.chinesetimeschool.com/zh-cn/articles/list/cheng-yu-stories/

I searched 学习中文成语 and clicked on the first link.

Of course, it's not a physical book, but it does hit some of the characteristics you specified.

Also, if using the language is your goal, I would steer away from rote memorization and use something like Chinesepod.com or slow-chinese.com so you can learn the language in a dialogue and remember the dialogue. That is what works best for me!

Answer 4

I've been using the Duogongneng Chengyu Cidian for a while now, I'll give you two examples of what the entries look like:

鸡飞狗跳 ##

解释 形容因为恐惧而引起的非常混乱的情况｡

语见 《痛史》十三回:“你看前两天那种搜索的样子,只就我们歇宿的那一家客寓,已经是闹得鸡飞狗走,鬼哭神号｡"

例句 这伙少年到处惹是生非,搅得村里鸡飞狗跳｡

近义 鸡犬不宁

反义 鸡犬不惊

辨析 鸡飞狗跳和鸡犬不宁,都有“惊慌混乱"的意思｡鸡飞狗跳偏重于混乱得厉害,语义较重;鸡犬不宁偏重于骚扰得厉害,语义较轻｡

望梅止渴

解释 口渴时想到吃到梅子,流出口水,就不渴了｡比喻用空想或空话来安慰自己或别人｡也作“望梅消渴"｡

语见 《水浒传》五一回:“雷横道:‘我赏你三五两银子也不打紧,却恨今日忘记带来｡'白秀英道:‘官人今日见一文也无,提甚三五两银子｡正是教俺望梅止渴,画饼充饥｡'"

例句 如果现在丢开这些基本的书籍不认真苦读,一心想找秘本,只恐望梅止渴,无济于事｡(马南邨《燕山夜话·有书赶快读》)

近义 画饼充饥

反义 把饭叫饥

提示 “渴"不要写作“喝"｡

辨析 〔参见〕画饼充饥

典故 三国时期,有一次曹操率领军队行军,走到一个没有水的地方,士兵们口渴难忍｡曹操就骗他们说:前面有片很大的梅树林,结了许多梅子,又甜又酸,可以解渴｡士兵们听了,想起梅子的酸味,嘴里顿时流出口水,就不感到渴了｡

VARIANTS 望梅消渴 wàng méi xiāo kě

Of course not all entries all have 解释, 语见, 例句, 近义, 反义, 提示, 辨析, 典故 and variants but the above should give you an idea of what this dictionary can do. Seems to fit your criteria.

edit: or perhaps the stories are not long enough...