Questions tagged [chengyu]
Chengyu (simplified Chinese: 成语; traditional Chinese: 成語, pinyin: chéngyǔ, lit. "set phrases") are a type of traditional Chinese idiomatic expressions, most of which consist of four characters. Chengyu were widely used in Classical Chinese and are still common in vernacular Chinese writing and in the spoken language today.
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Can 疲劳驾驶 be considered 成语？
Dictionary definition of成语seems very vague on what constitutes 成语。some says it has to be 4 characters, some says no
一定要在成语字典才算吗？为什么一些是四字俗语？
Side question：21世纪有新成语吗？
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What is the meaning of "复" in "聊复尔耳"?
The meaning of "聊复尔耳" is
聊复尔耳：姑且如此罢了。语出《晋书・卷四九・阮籍传》：「北阮富，南阮贫。七月七日，北阮盛晒衣服，皆锦绮粲目。咸以竿挂大布犊鼻于庭，人或怪之，答曰：『未能免俗，聊复尔耳！』」
聊：姑且，勉强，凑凑和和。
尔：如此、这样。
耳：文言助词，而已，罢了。
The meaning of this Chengyu is to ...
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The meaning of 我看你呀
I had my tutor explain to me " 我看你呀" that is meant to sound sarcastic. But I just can not wrap my hand around what it means in the context of these sentences:
我看你呀，还是早点儿洗洗睡吧。
我看你呀,还是别去吧 。
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Translation: möglichst rasch und schnell
To pin down one of my positions, I got inspired by a fictional interview with Jean Dubuffet, which contains a question for advice for young artists.
The autobiographical text is called "Bâtons ...
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What is 匪 in 受益匪浅?
In 受益匪浅 does 匪 just mean 非?
If I look up 匪 I get: bandits, robbers, gangsters.
受益匪浅: gain 受益 not 匪 little 浅: an ideological gain?
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Is 知音 a 2-character chengyu?
CC-CEDICT: 知音 (zhīyīn) intimate friend / soul mate
The above word has the hallmarks associated with chengyu (idioms): (a) it has an ancient background story, reflecting the close friendship between ...
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Is 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' used as an idiom in Chinese? If so, how is it grammatically structured?
The film title Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (臥虎藏龍/卧虎藏龙) apparently is an idiom describing a place or situation that is full of unnoticed masters. Is this phrase actually used in speech, and if so, ...
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What is the difference between 尽力而为 and 全力以赴?
I heard the following from a radio show, in which the hostess said (something about the recent flood in Beijing ), "我们的责任和希望不在于尽力而为，而在于全力以赴".
In my opinion, both idioms mean to go all out or ...
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How to translate "Always studying, never learning" (study vs learned, read vs understand, always vs forever vs never, mastery vs proficiency)
My friend observed that I like to study Mandarin.
It's true, I have been studying for many years, but I'm not very good...
So I want to be modest and say something like this:
Always studying, never ...
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Which is the most common chengyu (idiom)?
I was discussing a linguistics paper about chengyu in one of my YouTube videos and wondered what is the most common chengyu. It's the kind of question someone like me would like to know off the top ...
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感同身受 English equivalent
As the question says, Im wondering if this 成語 has an English version.
The best I could come up with is "I feel you" in English, but I feel the Chinese version has a deeper meaning. Any ...
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How does 果不其然 mean "just as expected"?
CC-CEDICT: 果不其然 (guǒbùqírán) just as expected / told you so
The 不 in 果不其然 is confusing me.
If we break 果不其然 down into its characters, we get: 果 = result; 不 = not; 其 = its; 然 = like this; the 不 ...
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What's a chengyu with meaning similar to the Japanese 七転八起 (fall down seven times, get up eight)?
Japanese has the idiom 七转八起:
Basically if you fail 7 times, you should recover from those events and be prepared to rise an 8th time. This is also applies if it is the world or circumstances that ...
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Why are the characters 打 and 采 in the chengyu 无精打采 (and its variant 没精打采)?
CC-CEDICT: 无精打采 (wújīngdǎcǎi) dispirited and downcast (idiom); listless / in low spirits / washed out
I can understand why 无精 is this chengyu; it's basically 没有精神、精力. However, I don't see the ...
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What is the purpose of 赴 ("to visit") within 全力以赴 ("to make an all-out effort")?
全力以赴 (quánlìyǐfù)
CC-CEDICT: to do at all costs / to make an all-out effort
Breaking apart this chengyu, we find:
全力: "with all one's strength / full strength / all-out (effort) / fully (...
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成语 and 俗语 emphasizing adaptation
I would like to know what chinese 成语 or 俗语 can be used to emphasize the need of people or generations to adapt to the given situation or environment.
Thanks.
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Attack them when they are unready, take them by surprise ： 这个成语有多少方法可以说？
Could you please let me know which of these sound right and why the other ones sound wrong? I'm not sure about the difference between 不 and 无.
出其不意，攻其不备
攻其不备，出其不意
攻其无备，出其无意
攻其不备，出其无意
攻其无备，出其不意
都可以用吗
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what does 塞翁 mean in 塞翁失马?
I recently read about this idiom and its story. I know what it actually means. But when it comes to character by character translation, I struggled. I asked some of my Chinese friends, but they didn't ...
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What is the meaning and origin of 高人一等?
So I have just started to learn some 成语 but I came across a 成语 that is 高人一等. I was just wondering what it means, and where it could have come from. From context clues, I think it has to do with tall ...
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What is the role of chengyu (成语) in a sentence?
I've learned some chengyu (idiomatic expression), and I see many are used in different position in the sentence.
For example:
adjective -> 那个人看来有点不三不四
noun -> 我集市看到人山人海
adverb or verb? -> ...
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Similarities between Japanese 四字熟語 and Chinese 成语?
I have been learning Japanese 四字熟語 as a passtime for sometime and I would like to know whether most of them can be used verbatim in Chinese or if there are Japanese-made yojijukugo which cannot be ...
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What is the original Mandarin translation for this proverb: "The wise man and the tortoise travel but never leave their home."
I've seen the proverb "the wise man and the tortoise travel but never leave their home" online on quite a few websites:
https://www.kalimaquotes.com/quotes/10008/the-wise-man-and-the
https:/...
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Is there a chengyu to describe small-time thieves or scoundrels with a playful connotation?
I'm looking for a chengyu or an idiom to colloquially describe small-time criminals, but without excessive negative connotation.
There are already words both in Chinese and English that come close:
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What are the repeatedly used structures in 4-character expressions (e.g. chengyu) and what do they mean?
In today's reading, I encountered the expression 敬而远之. However, I noticed this x而y之 structure is repeated in many other 4-character expressions (Pleco search ?而?之):
敬而远之
大而化之
等而下之
分而治之
换而言之
久而久之
取而代之
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Is there a chengyu to mean "undeserved reward" or "undeserved luck"?
Let's consider someone who sits on their buttocks all day, but, in spite of not working hard, gets rewarded anyway.
Some examples:
a particularly lazy coworker who gets a promotion/raise even if they ...
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Is there an idiomatic way to express 乱说 or 胡说八道 in an elegant way?
Essentially, let's say that during a polite conversation, I want to remark that someone 乱说 / 胡说八道 “talks rubbish", without sounding inelegant or unrefined (没素质).
What's a good euphemism, a ...
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In 立下了汗马功劳, how should I understand 立下了 ("set up") 汗马功劳 ("war exploits")?
In many example sentences for the chengyu
汗马功劳
hànmǎgōngláo
war exploits; (fig.) heroic contribution[src]
we see 立下了汗马功劳, e.g.:
他参加过许多战役, 立下了汗马功劳, 但他仍然很谦虚。
I don't understand this because 立下 = &...
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Do most native speakers understand these Chengyus at all? 霽範永存, 亹亹不卷, 巾袖無光, 鑿枘不入
I am learning some Chengyu but after a google search with inverted commas, only a very small number of usages are found:
266 results for 霽範永存;
720 results for 亹亹不卷;
817 results for 巾袖無光;
886 ...
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Is there an idiom for a "lose-lose" situation?
Is there an idiom for a "lose-lose" situation, in which both sides receive a negative effect? In particular, if there is a 成语 that would be great!
EDIT: What about describing two decisions for a ...
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“你我未来，由此展开。” Is this a real Chinese expression?
Is this an authentic Chinese expression? If it is, then why is the only place I see it in use on the Chinese-language version of the US Census website?
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Is 金口难开 an idiom, and if so what would be a suitable CC-CEDICT definition?
I stumbled upon 金口难开, and I think it's a 成语. I think it describes people who are pretentious (金口 = gold mouth), which makes it hard for them to speak (难开 = difficult to open).
Examples:
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What's a suitable CC-EDICT definition for 各司其职?
I encountered 各司其职 in my textbook 发展汉语，高级口语（I） on page 19, so I'm attempting to whip up a CC-EDICT definition.
Question: What's a suitable CC-EDICT definition for 各司其职?
The definition the textbook ...
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How do I use a chengyu (idiom) to describe a "one extreme to the other" kind of transformation?
In my story, 孔琳's behavior has changed from ultra-depressed to ultra-optimistic in a matter of moments (she has an unstable personality). Her friends (陈叶 and 胡灵阳) are staring at her in amazement, and ...
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Does the chengyu 话不投机 (huà bù tóu jī) mean "uncongenial speech"?
I'm looking at creating a CC-EDICT entry for 话不投机 (huà bù tóu jī). This will need to go through their review process:
All submitted entries will be queued for reviewing by the CC-CEDICT editors team....
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Do Chinese language users use 作心三日?
This isn't exactly a question about the linguistic properties of the Chinese language, but something I'm just curious about.
Is 作心三日 a 成語 used in China? It's a very common Korean proverb, basically ...
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What's the Chinese equivalent of 将就? (成语)
For Example:
正版 Windows 太贵了, 只能拿盗版Windows或Ubuntu将就一下了.
Which can be translated to
Genuine Microsoft Windows is too expensive, I'll have to make do with pirated Windows or Ubuntu.
Are there ...
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What are the HSK chengyu (idioms)?
I've been going through the HSK lists with awk, so I now feel like I can answer...
Question: What are the HSK chengyu (idioms)?
My answer is below.
To my knowledge, there's no HSK5 idioms, except ...
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Is there a reliable way to check if an idiom (成语) is widely used?
Sometimes I encounter an idiom (or 成语) and think to myself "oh, I like this 成语, maybe I should learn it". However, I'll often find out later that nobody actually uses that particular 成语, and I've ...
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Idiom/成語 for "Worrying Doesn't Change the Outcome"
Is there an Idiom/成語 for "Worrying does not change the outcome"?
To be used when someone is spending a lot of time / energy worrying about something that they have no control over.
Thanks for any ...
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Idiom/chengyu meaning: 小葱拌豆腐一清二白
I recently came across 小葱拌豆腐一清二白 as a dictionary submission, but the explanation of the submitter was unclear. I have had mixed/little luck searching for the expression (or parts of it), and I also ...
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Anyone heard a saying about marriage being like cooking rice?
This was a question here which has a link to here "Chinesische Weisheiten" = Chinese wisdom.
I don't really believe there is such a saying. I think it is "Quatsch", which is German for "rubbish, ...
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Meaning of a Fan Inscription
In a trip to Hangzhou, almost 2 years ago, I participated in one (the biggest if I'm not mistaken) of the Chinese National Amateur Weiqi Championship as a (Brazilian) foreigner.
During one of the ...
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A shorter translation of 举案齐眉
举案齐眉 - 汉英大词典
A wife lifts the tray to a level with her eyebrows to show great
respect for her husband
Are there any shorter translations?
PS: Why do people still admire such kind of marriage?
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Words related to several 成语 (via 《AB》 → 《-A-B》)
The word 颜色 (yánsè / colour; facial expression/looks) is clearly related to several chengyu:
五颜六色
容颜失色
正颜厉色
和颜悦色
怡颜悦色
喜颜悦色
I suspect that many two-character words AB are similar to 颜色, in that ...
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the leaf always falls down on its root
A friend of mine mentioned the Chinese saying that says that "the leaf always falls down on its root". I would like to know whether this refers to the text that in old age several people return to ...
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成语 or expression that one is speaking about a topic he knows nothing about
I am giving a presentation about topics in philosophy for my Chinese class, and unlike many of the students there, I have no formal education in the topic I am presenting. I feel it would be ...
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Chinese expression for "go out early and return early"
I'm Looking for a Chinese expression that means something like "go out early and return early" or "the sooner you leave, the sooner you can come back". It expresses a wish for a person who is leaving ...
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Meaning of 走马看花
So, I came across this chengyu and my understanding is that it means something like "to take a cursory look at something" or, to quote my dictionary, "粗略地观察事物". Now, I understand this and I see where ...
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What is the difference between 井底之蛙 and 坐井观天?
To express a person that has a narrow view, there are two 成语. According to 百度词典:
坐井观天
坐在井底看天。比喻眼界小，见识少。
井底之蛙
井底的蛙只能看到井口那么大的一块天。比喻见识狭窄的人。
Both words include derogatory sense (含贬义). But for me ...
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