Are there any chengyu or xiehouyu that only mean their literal meaning?

Question

Most chengyu and xiehouyu have a literal meaning and a figurative meaning.

Take 鸡飞狗跳 for instance, it literally means [the] chicken[s] fly [and the] dog[s] jump, figuratively it stands for chaos and confusion.

Or 孔夫子搬家——净是书 literally means Confucius moves house —— there's nothing but books, but figuratively books sounds the same as loss or lose (输) giving the meaning of always losing.

With these xiehouyu and chengyu the emphasis is always placed on the figurative meaning and not the literal meaning.

Are there chengyu that only have a literal meaning with no figurative meaning at all?

Perhaps 泥菩萨过河 would count as one - it seems that its literal meaning already does the trick of conveying what it wants to say without any other necessary added meaning.

Are there others?

Answer 1

I think all chengyus should have their figurative meanings.

xiehouyu usually has two kinds:

1. 逻辑推理式 // logical type, For example, 哑巴吃黄连, 有苦说不出.

2. 谐音 // homophony, For example, 外甥打灯笼, 照旧(舅)

泥菩萨过河 should fall into logical type. So, there are lots of that type if you go Baidu.

Couple of links for your reference:

逻辑推理式

谐音

Answer 2

Sorry to be very late, but only now do I know the answer to this question!

There are plenty of chengyu that mean only their literal meaning. I don't have an exact number, but here are just a few examples:

• 供不应求 - Supply does not meet demand
• 恍然大悟 - To abruptly realize
• 刻不容缓 - To demand immediate action
• 天伦之乐 - The happiness that comes from spending time with family
• 无理取闹 - To cause a disturbance without reason
• 无忧无虑 - Complete free of worries or concerns
• 心甘情愿 - To be very willing or happy to do something
• 一举两得 - To achieve two goals with a single action
• 不屑一顾 - To consider something not worthy of attention or consideration
• 得不偿失 - The gains don't compensate for the losses

It's helpful to know that many chengyu come from lines in well-known or influential works of literature, theater, or poetry. As such, there isn't always a back story for the chengyu, and I find that it's often (but absolutely not always) the back story that gives a chengyu its layered meanings.

If you visit the links for the chengyu listed above, you can see the respective chengyus' place of origin and whether they have a corresponding back story or not.

Let me know if this isn't clear!

Answer 3

An expression would not be chengyu（成语) or xiehouyu (歇后语) if it didn't have additional layers of meaning. Imagine one asks "Can't metaphors be taken literally?"