Supplementary 2: Types of Chinese idioms
Many of the Chinese quadrisyllabic units are miniature sentences themselves, having a
subject noun phrase (NP) and a verb phrase (VP) functioning as the predicate. Figure 1
shows such a case where a four-syllable unit has the standard structure of a sentence
complete with an NP (subject) and a VP (predicate). Here 鐵樹開花 tie2shu4kai1hua1 ‘irontree-open-flower’ literally means ‘the sago cycad blooms’ and implies something difficult to
achieve, as the sago cycad is a kind of plant which does not flower easily.
S
Sentence
VP
NP
Noun
Phrase
N
A
Verb
Phrase
V
Noun
Adjective
N
Verb
鐵
樹
開
tie3
‘iron’
shu4
‘tree’
kai1
‘open’
Noun
花
hua1
‘flower’
Figure 1: Syntactic structure of a four-character idiom
Although expressions like 鐵樹開花 seem ‘self-contained’ as a sentence-like structure, they
do not always stand alone as isolated expressions in discourse. Instead, they are often
embedded in a larger structure, supporting a higher order of expression. For example, 鐵樹
開花 in example (1) clearly acts as a predicate for the whole sentence.
(1)
埃 弗 拉 鐵
樹
開
花
ai1 fu2 la1 tie3 shu4 kai1 hua1
‘Evra’ ‘iron’ ‘tree’ ‘open’ ‘flower’
‘Evra bloomed like a sago cycad.’
The phrase (or miniature sentence) 鐵樹開花 in (1) is used to describe the performance of
the footballer Evra in the 2013 Premier League, where he scored the fifth of the Top 5 Goals
of the season. The Chinese commentator probably used this phrase to show how rare and
brilliant this goal was in comparison to Evra’s previous record (only 2 goals at Manchester
United between 2005 and 2012). The short clause in (1) shows how a sentence-like
quadrisyllabic unit can be embedded in a larger expression and serve as a predicate. This is
often true where a quadrisyllabic unit, otherwise referred to as a four-character idiom, is
used. More examples of sentence-like quadrisyllabic units can be seen in Table 2.5, and all
involve a subject NP ‘doing something’ in the VP. Example usages of these units are also
included in the table.
Table 1: Quadrisyllabic units with S  NP VP structure
Four-character Idiom
老馬識途
lao3ma3shi4tu2
老蚌生珠
lao3bang4sheng1zhu1
盲人摸象
mang4ren2mo1xiang4
愚公移山
yu2gong1yi2shan1
世風日下
shi4feng1ri4xia4
Component
Analysis
老馬 lao3ma3
‘old horse’
識 shi4 ‘know’
途 tu2 ‘way’
老蚌 lao3bang4
‘old shellfish’
生 sheng1
‘produce’
珠 zhu1 ‘bead’
Overall Meaning
Example Usage
‘old horse who
knows the way’ (a
person of rich
experience)
小王老馬識途，不
會迷路。
‘an old oyster
yielding a pearl’
(bear a child in
one’s later years)
瑪利亞·凱莉老蚌生
珠懷孕四個月肚子
已經渾圓
盲人 mang4ren2
‘blind person’
摸 mo1 ‘touch’
象 xiang4
‘elephant’
‘blind person feel
the element’ (draw
a conclusion on the
basis of partial
understanding)
移民國外切勿盲人
摸象
愚公 yu2gong1
‘foolish old man’
移 yi2 ‘move’
山 shan1
‘mountain’
‘the foolish man
moves a mountain’
(be resolute in
one’s endeavors)
發揚愚公移山精神
鍥而不捨
世 shi4 ‘world’
風 feng1 ‘wind’
日 ri4 ‘day’
下 xia4 ‘down’
‘the world’s wind
daily down’ (Public
morals decline day
by day)
世風日下,人心險惡
‘Little Wang knows the
way. He won’t get lost.’
‘Mariah Carey, an old
oyster yielding a pearl,
four months into
pregnancy with a round
belly.’
‘When emigrating, do
not make decisions
based on incomplete
information.’
‘Promote the Yugong
moving mountain spirit.
Persevere – do not give
up.’
‘Public morals are
declining by the day; the
human heart is
dangerous and evil.’
孤掌難鳴
gu1zhang3nan2ming2
全軍覆沒
Quan2jun1fu4mo4
刀刀見血
dao1dao1jian4xie3
壯士斷腕
zhuang4shi4duan4wan3
孟母三遷
meng4mu3san1qian1
孤 gu1 ‘lone ’
掌 zhang3 ‘palm’
難 nan2 ‘difficult’
鳴 ming2 ‘sound’
‘It is difficult to clap
with only one
hand’ (team work
is desirable)
北約 12 國反對動
武，美孤掌難鳴
全軍 quan2jun1
‘whole arm’
覆 fu4 ‘overturn’
沒 mo4 ‘sink’
‘The whole army
was wiped out’
挑戰者全軍覆沒內
地美女打機招親
刀 dao1 ‘knife’
見 jian4 ‘see’
血 xie3 ‘blood’
‘Every stab sees
blood (to speak
sharply)’
用谷開來殺薄熙
來，刀刀見血。
壯士 zhuang4shi4
‘heroic man’
斷 duan4 ‘cut off’
腕 wan3 ‘wrist’
‘strong man breaks
his wrist’ (show
determination
when conducting
business)
用壯士斷腕的決心
繼續推進改革
孟母 meng4mu3
‘the mother of
Mencius’
三 san1 ‘three’
遷 qian1 ‘move’
The mother of
Mencius moved
house three times
(A wise mother
would do anything
for the healthy
development of
her children)
加拿大華人家長望
子成龍“孟母三遷”
搶租學區房
‘12 nations on NATO
against using force,
difficult for US to act
alone.’
‘All challengers defeated,
hot girl in mainland
invites suitors to play
video games and win her
as a prize.’
‘Bo Xilai with Gu Kailai;
every stab sees blood’
‘Continue to reform with
the determination of a
brave man breaking his
own wrist.’
‘Chinese parents in
Canada hoping
children“become
dragons” (achieve high)
scramble to rent in good
catchment areas like
Mencius’ mother moving
house three times.’
At this point, we may start to ponder the question ‘what is a sentence in Chinese?’ Just like
our previous puzzle of what a word is in Chinese, a sentence is difficult to define. In English,
a sentence can be defined as ‘a set of words expressing a statement, a question or an order,
usually containing a subject and a verb’ (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary). In Chinese,
statements are also expressed, questions asked, and orders given, but it is much harder to
determine the boundary of a sentence in Chinese. In written English, a sentence can easily
be identified by a starting capital letter and an ending period, question mark, or exclamation
mark. In Chinese, no clear mechanical means are consistently used to help define the
boundaries of a sentence or equivalent expressions. Not only is the use of punctuation
marks looser than English, but a unit of expression often does not contain a subject or a
verb in Chinese. That said, there are still a lot of units of expressions that contains some sort
of NP VP structures which can be taken as sentences on a par with the English sentences.
If we take the expression in Figure 1 as a sentence-like structure, since it comes with an NP
and a VP, then a quadrisyllabic unit in Chinese may be a good framework to observe
possible Chinese syntactic structures that are stripped to their very essence. In a fourcharacter idiom, for example, the VP portion is often replaced by an AP (adjective or
adverbial phrase), like the one shown in Figure 2.
S
Sentence
AP
NP
Noun
Phrase
Adjective
Phrase
A
N
N
Noun
Noun
人
心
ren2
‘human’
xin1
‘heart’
A
Adjective
Adjective
惶
惶
huan2
‘anxious’
huan2
‘anxious’
Figure 2: Syntactic structure of a quadrisyllabic unit with VP replaced by AP
The quadrisyllabic unit in Figure 2 does not contain a verb of any kind. Instead, it includes a
disyllabic unit consisting of adjectives in the predicate position, describing the state of the
subject NP. This phrase is used to describe the anxious feelings of the public during some
kinds of natural or manmade disasters. It can stand alone as an independent expression, or,
like 鐵樹開花 in (1), it can be incorporated into a longer expression.
(2)
党
内
贪
官
人
心
惶
惶
dang3 nei4
tan1
guan1
ren2
xin1
huang2 huang2
‘party’ ‘inside’ ‘corrupt’ ‘official’ ‘human’ ‘heart’ ‘apprehensive’ ‘apprehensive’
‘corrupt officials in the party are all on tenterhooks’
In (2), 人心惶惶 serves as a predicate, even though it can also function as an independent
expression, having both a subject and a predicate phrase in itself as Figure 2 shows. There
are many more four-character idioms like this in Chinese, some of which are listed in Table 2.
This series of examples also illustrates the fact that many disyllabic units functioning as
adjectives in Chinese are created by repeating a syllable.
Table 2: Quadrisyllabic units with S  NP AP structure
Four-character Idiom
Overall Meaning
Example Usage
‘the net of Heaven
has a large mesh,
but it lets nothing
through’
天网恢恢，疏而不
漏
妙手空空
妙 miao4
miao4shou3kong1kong1 ‘wonderful’
手 shou3 ‘hand’
空 kong1 ‘empty’
‘fantastic hands
empty looking’
(highly skillful thief)
偷竊技能妙手空空
衣冠楚楚
yi1guan1chu3chu3
‘impressively
dresses’
一个衣冠楚楚的老
仆人
天網恢恢
tian1wang3hui1hui1
落英繽紛
luo4ying1bin1fen1
醉眼惺忪
zui4yan3xing1song1
晨星落落
chen2xing1luo4luo4
殺氣騰騰
sha1qi4teng2teng2
Component
Analysis
天 tian1 ‘sky’
網 wang3 ‘net’
恢恢 hui1hui1
‘vast’
衣 yi1 ‘clothes’
冠 guan1 ‘cap’
楚楚 chu3chu3
‘bright and clear’
落英 luo4ying1
‘fallen petals’
繽紛 bin1fen1 ‘in
riotous profusion
‘The net of Heaven may
have a large mesh but it
never lets anything
through.’
‘The skills for stealing
make it impossible to
see how the hands
work.’
‘an old servant sprucely
dresses’
‘fallen petals lie in
profusion’
(beautiful seasonal
scene)
落英繽紛的季節
‘a season when many
flowers fall to the
ground’
‘sleepy-eyed from
醉 zui4 ‘drunk’
drink’
眼 yan3 ‘eye’
惺忪 xing1song1
‘(of eyes) not fully
open’
晨 chen2 ‘morning’ ‘few morning stars’
星 xing1 ‘star’
落落 luo4luo4 ‘fall
behind’
喝到醉眼惺忪
殺氣 sha1qi4
‘murderouslooking’
騰騰 teng2teng2
‘steaming’
殺氣騰騰的水槍之
戰
‘killing energy
steaming’
(murderous
looking)
‘drinking until one’s eyes
become blurred’
欣赏着天上的明月和
落落晨星
‘admiring the bright
moon in the sky and the
sparse morning stars’
‘a water gun fight full of
murderous intentions’
事事如意
shi4shi4ru2yi4
威風凜凜
wei1feng1lin3lin3
千里迢迢
qian1li3tiao2tiao2
事事 shi4shi4
‘everything’
如意 ru2yi4 ‘as
one wishes’
‘all things as one
wishes’
祝贺大家事事如
意！
威風 wei1feng1
‘power and
prestige ’
凜凜 lin3lin3
‘stern ’
千里 qian1li3 ‘long
distance’
迢迢 tiao2tiao2
‘far away’
‘awe-inspiring and
stern’ (majestic
looking)
全副武裝威風凜凜
‘thousand miles
away’ (very far)
千里迢迢远赴莫斯
科
‘I hope everything goes
smoothly for
everybody!’
‘fully armed and looking
impressive’
‘going to Moscow a long
way away’
So far we have seen how Chinese sentence-like structures play out in the quadrisyllabic
framework. We have also seen how a four-character idiom can function as a predicate for a
larger expression. In fact, if we look into the constituent structure of some quadrisyllabic
units, we can find even smaller sentence-like structures (often consisting of two syllables)
embedded in the quadrisyllabic unit. Figure 3 shows such an example.
S
Sentence
S
NP
Noun
Phrase
N
A
Sentence
N
Noun
Adjective
A
Noun
冤
家
路
yuan1
‘wronged’
jia1
‘home’
lu4
‘road’
Adjective
窄
zhai3
‘narrow’
Figure 3: A sentence-like structure embedded in a quadrisyllabic unit
The quadrisyllabic unit in Figure 3, 冤家路窄, means ‘the road is especially narrow for
people who don’t like each other’ (i.e. It is difficult to avoid your adversary). If the
quadrisyllabic unit is a sentence (S), then 冤家 is the subject NP which means ‘foes’. The
other structure, 路窄 ‘road narrow’, on the other hand, is a predicate to the subject, which
is a miniature sentence itself, having the meaning of ‘the road is narrow’. More fourcharacter idioms with embedded sentence-like structures can be seen in Table 3.
Table 3: Quadrisyllabic units with an embedded S structure
Four-character Idiom
Component
Analysis
英雄氣短
英雄 ying1xiong2
ying1xiong2qi4duan3 ‘hero’
氣 qi4 ‘breath’
短 duan3 ‘short ’
Overall Meaning
‘a hero in short
breaths’ (a good man
caught in difficult
circumstances)
Example Usage
英雄氣短 李敖已經
不是當年的李敖
‘A hero in short breaths;
Li Ao is no longer the Li
Ao of years ago.’
江郎才盡
jiang1lang2cai2jin4
江郎 jiang1lang2
‘Mr Jiang’
才 cai2 ‘ability’
盡 jin4 ‘exhausted’
‘Mr Jiang runs out of
talent’ (one's literary
talent is at an ebb)
美媒称苹果江郎才
尽
黔驢技窮
黔 qian2 ‘Guizhou’
qian2lu2ji4qiong2
驢 lu2 ‘donkey’
技 ji4 ‘skill’
窮 qiong2
‘destitute; poor’
哲人 zhe2ren2 ‘a
wise man’
其 qi2 ‘that’
萎 wei3 ‘wilt’
洛陽 luo4yang2
‘the Royang city’
紙 zhi3 ‘paper’
貴 gui4 ‘expensive’
‘the Guizhou donkey
has no more skills’
(All the skills of a
person are
consumed)
改組無新意馬英九
黔驢技窮
‘philosophical person
withered’ (A wise
man has passed
away)
‘The price of paper
soars in Luoyang’ (A
publication becomes
extremely popular)
哲人其萎，风范犹
存
哲人其萎
zhe2ren2qi2wei3
洛陽紙貴
luo4yang2zhi3gui4
‘The American media says
Apple has run out of
ideas.’
‘Cabinet reshuffle offers
nothing new; Ma Yingjeou runs out of tactics.’
‘A philosopher has died
but his legacy remains.’
J·K·罗琳匿名新作洛
阳纸贵
‘J.K. Rowling’s new work
under a pseudonym,
gains popularity.’
Examples of quadrisyllabic units like that in Figure 3 or those in Table 3 are relatively few,
but they illustrate an important characteristic of the Chinese language: the so-called TopicComment structure. In contrast to the English Subject-Predicate structure, which is
syntactically oriented, the Chinese Topic-Comment structure is more conceptually oriented.
Taking the last item on Table 3 as example, 洛陽紙貴 luo4yang2zhi3gui4 ‘Luoyang-paperexpensive’ literally means ‘In Luoyang, paper is expensive’. Here 洛陽 (the city) is not the
subject of the quadrisyllabic unit in a syntactic sense, but 紙 ‘paper’ is, since the predicate
貴 ‘expensive’ is used to describe it. 洛陽, however, occupies the thematic position and is
said to be the topic of the sentence. The miniature sentence structure, 紙貴 ‘paper is
expensive’, is offered as a comment on the topic. This is a regular pattern in Chinese
discourse. Thus we note another structural trait of the Chinese language being manifested
by a four-character idiom.
Yet another kind of structure the quadrisyllabic unit illustrates is the juxtaposition of two
sentence-like units without any conjunctive elements. Figure 4 shows such an example.
S
S
Noun
Sentence
S
Sentence
V
N
Sentence
N
Verb
V
Noun
Verb
風
吹
草
動
feng1
‘wind’
chui1
‘blow’
cao3
‘grass’
dong4
‘move’
Figure 4: A quadrisyllabic units consisting of two coordinate sentences
The quadrisyllabic unit illustrated in Figure 4 does not consist of two existing disyllabic units,
as neither 風吹 ‘wind blows’ nor 草動 ‘grass moves’ is an established lexical item. They both
consist of a subject noun and a verb predicate instead, and can both be said to be mini
sentences. Here we witness another flexible syntactic arrangement of a Chinese
expression – two sentences can often be juxtaposed without any intervening conjunctive
devices. More examples like this can be found in Table 4.
Table 4: Quadrisyllabic units consisting of two coordinate sentences
Four-character Idiom
龍爭虎鬥
long2zheng1hu3dou4
Component
Analysis
龍 long2 ‘dragon’
爭 zheng1
‘compete’
虎 hu3 ‘tiger’
鬥 dou4 ‘fight’
Overall Meaning
‘the dragon wars, the
tiger battles’ (fierce
battle between
formidable foes)
Example Usage
澳大選兩黨“龍爭
虎鬥”
‘In Australia’s big
election, two parties
fought each other to
win.’
瓜熟蒂落
gua1shu2di4luo4
瓜 gua1 ‘melon’
熟 shu2 ‘ripe ’
蒂 di4 ‘stalk’
落 luo4 ‘fall’
‘fruits fall off when
ripe’ (things will be
easily settled when
time is mature)
莫言获奖 2012 瓜
熟蒂落
‘Mo Yan won a Nobel
頭 tou2 ‘head’
昏 hun1 ‘dusk‘
腦 nao3 ‘brain’
脹 zhang4 ‘bloat‘
‘head dizzy brain
swollen’ (causing
utter confusion
disorientation)
头昏脑胀是什么原
因引起的呢？
面黃肌瘦
面 main4 ‘face ’
main4huang2ji1shou4 黃 huang2 ‘yellow ’
肌 ji1 ‘muscle ’
瘦 shou4 ‘lean’
‘yellow face,
emaciated body’
(malnourished and
sickly in appearance)
造成孩子面黄肌瘦
的 5 个原因
兔死狗烹
tu4si3gou3peng1
兔 tu4 ‘rabbit’
死 si3 ‘die ’
狗 gou3 ‘dog’
烹peng1 ‘cook’
‘cook the hound
when the hares are
dead’ (trusted aides
are eliminated after
being used)
创业打拼天下者怎
样才能避免兔死狗
烹？
蠶 can2 ‘silkworm’
食 shi2 ‘eat’
鯨 jing1 ‘whale’
吞 tun1 ‘swallow’
‘silkworms eat and
whales swallow’ (The
powerful gradually
seize the territory of
the weak)
美國電子書持續蠶
食鯨吞傳統出版業
狼 lang2 ‘wolf’
吞 tun1 ‘swallow’
虎hu3 ‘tiger’
嚥 yan4 ‘swallow’
眼 yan3 ‘eye’
高 gao1 ‘high’
手 shou3 ‘hand ’
低 di1 ‘low’
‘gulp down like
wolves and tigers do’
吃東西不要狼吞虎
嚥。
眉 mei2 ‘eyebrow’
開 kai1 ‘open’
眼 yan3 ‘eye’
笑 xiao4 ‘smile’
‘eyebrows open eyes
smiling’ (beam with
joy)
頭昏腦脹
tou2hun1nao3zhang4
蠶食鯨吞
can2shi2jing1tun1
狼吞虎嚥
lang2tun1hu3yan4
眼高手低
yan3gao3shou3di1
眉開眼笑
mei2kai1yan3xiao4
prize like the melon was
mature and detached
from the stalk.’
‘What causes the head
to feel confused and
swollen?’
‘five reasons that cause
a child to have a
yellowish face and thin
body’
‘In a joint business
venture, how can you
avoid being stabbed in
the back after
establishing the
business?’
‘Electronic books in the
US continue to invade
the traditional
publishing industry.’
‘Do not gulp like an
animal when you eat.’
‘eyes high hands low’ 新人不能吃苦眼高
(fastidious and
手低离职率高
demanding but inept) ‘Newbies cannot stand
hardship, aiming high
and yielding low; the
probability of them
quitting their jobs is
high.’
西瓜價格翻一倍瓜
農眉開眼笑
‘Watermelon prices
double; melon farmers
beam with delight.’
水滴石穿
shui3di1shi2chuan1
水 shui3 ‘water’
滴 di1 ‘drip’
石 shi2 ‘stone’
穿 chuan1
‘penetrate’
以水滴石穿的精神
推动中国变革
‘water drips through
rock’ (Little strokes
fell great oaks)
‘Promote the reform of
China in the spirit of
water wearing away
stone.’
Not all quadrisyllabic units exhibit sentence-like qualities (that is, have a subject-predicate
structure). Figure 5, for example, shows a four-character item consisting of two noun
phrases, 虎頭 hu3tou2 ‘tiger-head’ and 蛇尾 she2wei3 ‘snake-tail’. Together the unit means
‘having a fine start but a poor finish’.
NP
Noun
Phrase
NP
NP
Noun
Phrase
Noun
Phrase
N
N
N
Noun
Noun
虎
頭
hu3
‘tiger’
tou2
‘head’
N
Noun
蛇
she2
‘snake’
Noun
尾
wei3
‘tail’
Figure 5: A quadrisyllabic units consisting of two noun phrases
Despite the lack of a verb, the entire quadrisyllabic unit of 虎頭蛇尾, however, can still
function as a predicate, as example (3) shows.
(3)
反
腐
不
要
虎
頭
蛇
fan3
fu3
bu2 yao4 hu3 tou2 she2 wei3
‘against’ ‘corruption’ ‘not’ ‘want’ ‘tiger’ ‘head’ ‘snake’ ‘tail’
‘In combating corruption, do not be anticlimactic.’
尾
In (3), we have a Topic-Comment structure where 反腐 ‘against corruption’ is the topic, and
the comment is advice or a warning to ‘try to avoid an anticlimax’. More quadrisyllabic units
consisting of two NPs can be seen in Table 5.
Table 5: Quadrisyllabic units consisting of two noun phrases
Four-character Idiom
Component
Analysis
毛手毛腳
毛 mao2 ‘hair’
mao2shou3mao2jiao3 手 shou3 ‘hand’
腳 jiao3 ‘foot’
鳳毛麟角
feng4mao2lin2jiao3
鬼頭鬼腦
gui3tou2gui3nao3
風花雪月
feng1hua1xue3yue4
難兄難弟
nan4xiong1nan4di4
雞毛蒜皮
ji1mao2suan4pi2
花言巧語
hua1yan2qiao3yu3
銅牆鐵壁
tong2qiang2tie3bi4
Overall Meaning
Example Usage
‘hairy hands hairy
feet’ (be careless in
handling things)
可恶！竟然对美女
毛手毛脚！
鳳 feng4 ‘phoenix’
毛 mao2 ‘hair’
麟 lin2 ‘unicorn’
角 jiao3 ‘horn’
‘feather of phoenix
and horn of Chinese
unicorn’ (precious
and rare)
亿万富豪并非凤毛
麟角大连有 960 个
鬼 Gui3 ‘ghost’
頭 tou2 ‘head’
腦 nao3 ‘brain’
‘ghost head ghost
brain’ (furtive;
stealthy)
那個討厭的阿伯一
直鬼頭鬼腦
風 feng1 ‘wind’
花 hua1 ‘flower’
雪 xue3 ‘snow’
月 yue4 ‘moon’
難 nan4 ‘calamity’
兄 xiong1 ‘elder
brother’
弟 di4 ‘younger
brother’
‘wind, flowers, snow
and moon’ (romantic
themes; love affairs)
一场风花雪月的事
雞 ji1 ‘chicken’
毛 mao2 ‘feather’
蒜 suan4 ‘garlic’
皮 pi2 ‘skin’
‘chicken feather,
garlic skin’ (trivial
matters)
鸡毛蒜皮才是最真
实的生活
花 hua1 ‘flower’
言 yan2 ‘word’
巧 qiao3 ‘skilful’
語 yu3 ‘language’
‘flowery words and
fantastic language’ (a
lot of artful and
cunning talk)
受了推销员的花言
巧语的欺骗
銅 tong2 ‘copper’
牆 qiang2 ‘wall’
鐵 tie3 ‘iron’
壁 bi4 ‘wall’
‘walls made of
bronze and iron’
(impregnable
fortress)
活塞隊的銅牆鐵壁
防守
‘Damn! How dare (he)
grope the pretty girl!’
‘Billionaires are not that
rare; there are 960 in
Dalian.’
‘The annoying old man
keeps hanging around
stealthily.’
‘a romantic affair’
‘brothers in difficulty’ 国足与男篮，一對
(two of a kind)
難兄難弟
‘the national football
team and the male
basketball team, a pair
of brothers in sorrow’
‘Like chicken feathers
and garlic skin, trivial
matters are a reflection
of real life.’
‘deceived by the
salesperson’s
beguiling words’
‘the watertight defence
of the Fort Wayne
Zollner Pistons’
酒池肉林
jiu3chi2rou4lin2
酒 jiu3 ‘wine’
池 chi2 ‘pond’
肉 rou4 ‘meat’
林 lin2 ‘trees’
豐 feng1 ‘abundant,
great, or plentiful;’
衣 yi1 ‘clothing’
足 zu2 ‘enough’
食 shi2 ‘food’
豐衣足食
feng1yi1zu2shi2
‘wine pool meat
forest’ (extremely
extravagant lifestyle)
天天过著酒池肉林
的生活
‘ample clothes
adequate food’ (well
fed and clad)
豐衣足食就沒人偷
竊
‘living an extravagant
lifestyle’
‘No one will steal if
everyone has ample
clothing and adequate
food.’
Just like there are quadrisyllabic units made from two noun phrases, there are Chinese
idioms consisting of two verb phrases. One such structure is given in Figure 6, where each of
the two verb phrases consists of a verb and its object noun.
VP
Verb
Phrase
VP
VP
Verb
Phrase
Verb
Phrase
N
V
V
Noun
Verb
N
Verb
Noun
種
瓜
得
瓜
zhong4
‘plant’
gua1
‘melon’
de2
‘get’
gua1
‘melon’
Figure 6: A quadrisyllabic units consisting of two verb phrases
As expected, a quadrisyllabic unit consisting of two verb phrases is best used as a predicate
in a sentence-like expression.
(4)
芳
姨
種
瓜
得
瓜
有
收成
fang1 yi2 zhong4 gua1 de2 gua1 you3 shou1cheng2
PN ‘aunt’ ‘plant’ ‘melon’ ‘get’ ‘melon’ ‘have’ ‘receive-achieve’
‘Aunt Fang reaped what she sowed and obtained a harvest.’
In (4), the verb phrase 有收成 ‘have a harvest’ is the main predicate to the noun subject, 芳
姨 ‘Aunt Fang’. The quadrisyllabic unit, 種瓜得瓜 ‘you reap what you sow’ is also a verbal
predicate to the subject NP but it sounds like an inserted sequence in this case, redundant in
meaning but offering extra vivacity and metaphorical interest, a function often performed
by Chinese four-character idioms. More quadrisyllabic units consisting of two juxtaposed
verb phrases can be seen in Table 6.
Table 6: Quadrisyllabic units consisting of two verb phrases
Four-character
Idiom
畫蛇添足
hua4she2tian1zu2
Component Analysis
畫 hua4 ‘draw’
蛇 she2 ‘snake’
添 tian1 ‘add’
足 zu2 ‘foot’
Overall Meaning
‘add feet when
drawing a snake’
(unnecessarily
improve something
and achieve poorer
result)
飲水思源
飲 yin3 ‘drink’
‘think about the
source when drinking
yin3shui3si1yuan2
水 shui3 ‘water’
water’ (remember
思 si1 ‘think’
where one’s
源 yuan2 ‘source’
happiness comes
from)
隱惡揚善
隱 yin3 ‘hidden from ‘hide faults and
publicize merits’
yin3e4yang2shan4
view’
惡 e4 ‘evil’
揚 yang2 ‘raise
highly’
善 shan4 ‘good’
醉生夢死
醉 zui4 ‘drunk’
‘live in drunken state
or in a dream as if
zui4sheng1meng1si3 生 sheng1 ‘live’
dead’ (lead a
夢 meng1 ‘dream’
befuddled life)
死 si3 ‘death’
臥薪嚐膽
臥 wo4 ‘lie’
‘lie on wood and taste
gall’ (undergo selfwo4xin1chang2dan3 薪 xin1 ‘firewood’
imposed hardships
嚐 chang2 ‘taste’
and nurse ambition or
膽 dan3
vengeance)
‘gallbladder’
聞雞起舞
聞 wen2 ‘hear’
‘hear rooster; rise and
exercise’ (get up early
wen2ji1qi3wu3
雞 ji1 ‘rooster’
and do exercise)
起 qi3 ‘got up’
舞 wu3 ‘dance’
Example Usage
畫蛇添足的爛計謀
‘a lousy plan like adding
feet when drawing a
snake’
饮水思源忆母校
‘remembering your old
school where you
gained knowledge’
教导孩子隐恶扬善
‘teaching children to
forgive bad deeds and
praise good deeds’
生活在醉生梦死之
中
‘living in a drunken and
dreamy state’
卧薪尝胆成就微软
霸业
‘enduring hardships to
create the Microsoft
empire’
北京早晨空气污染
最严重“闻鸡起舞”
不应该提倡
‘Beijing morning air is
heavily polluted;
dancing with the
rooster should not be
advocated.’
躡手躡腳
nie4shou3nie4jiao4
躡 nie4 ‘walk softly’
手 shou3 ‘hand’
腳 jiao4 ‘foot’
‘quiet hands quiet
feet’ (walk quietly on
tiptoe)
躡手躡腳怕吵醒貓
走馬看花
zou3ma3kan4hua1
走 zou3 ‘walk’
馬 ma3 ‘horse’
看 kan4 ‘look’
花 hua1 ‘flower’
‘ride horse; see
flowers’ (gain a
superficial
understanding
through cursory
observation)
‘take off one’s armour
and return to the
farm’ (retire from the
army)
走馬看花遊 17 公
里海岸風景區
‘see different;
consider move’
(change one’s mind
when seeing
something new)
女友见异思迁我成
了恋爱备胎
解甲歸田
jie3jia3gui1tian2
解 Jie3 ‘take off’
甲 jia3 ‘armour’
歸 gui1 ‘go back’
田 tian2 ‘farmland’
見異思遷
jian4yi4si1qian1
見 jian4 ‘see ’
異 yi4 ‘different’
思 si1 ‘consider’
遷 qian1 ‘change’
‘walking on tiptoes for
fear of waking the cat’
‘superficially touring 17
kilometers of scenic
routes along the coast’
支持丈夫解甲归田
‘in support of one’s
husband’s retirement
from the army and
return to the
countryside’
‘Girlfriend changes
mind when seeing
someone new and I
become a spare.’
The final quadrisyllabic structure we will examine is an overall VP consisting of a PP
(prepositional phrase), a verb and its object noun as Figure 7 shows.
VP
Verb
Phrase
VP
PP
Prepositional
Phrase
N
P
Verb
Phrase
V
Preposition
Verb
N
Verb
Noun
霧
裡
看
花
zhong4
‘plant’
gua1
‘melon’
de2
‘get’
gua1
‘melon’
Figure 7: A quadrisyllabic unit consisting of a VP and a PP
The structure shown in Figure 7 illustrates another aspect of the Chinese language which is
different from English. The prepositional phrase 霧裡 ‘in the fog’ consists of a noun (霧 ‘fog’)
followed by a preposition (裡 ‘in’). The word order within this prepositional phrase is thus
the reverse of English, where prepositions come first, followed by the noun. In Chinese, a
preposition can be on either side of the noun.
Zhao (2001), a dictionary of established Chinese idioms, contains 4639 entries, among which
4214 (91%) are four-character units. The other 9% consists of multi-syllabic units of various
lengths (i.e. trisyllabic units and units between 5 and 14 characters long). Earlier we have
discussed trisyllabic units. In the final section of this chapter, we look at units of expressions
of at least five characters in length.
As we cross over the threshold of the quadrisyllabic unit and venture into fixed expressions
of more than five characters, we find fewer and fewer instances. The more syllables a unit
consists of, the more likely it is an aphorism or a proverb. It is relatively difficult to
determine which are fixed multisyllabic units except the most well-known idioms and
proverbs. Shei (2008), however, introduces a good way of identifying fixed expressions
through the use of web search engines. Table 7 provides some examples of multisyllabic
units ranging from 5 to 10 characters long.
Table 7: Examples of multisyllabic units
Multi-character Idiom
人窮志不窮
ren2qiong2zhi4bu4qiong2
家合萬事興
jia1he2wan4shi4xing1
先小人，後君子
xian1xiao3ren2，hou4jun1zi5
殺雞焉用牛刀
sha1ji1yan1yong4niu2dao1
Component Analysis
人 ren2 ‘people’
窮 qiong2 ‘poor’
志 zhi4 ‘aspiration’
不 bu4 ‘not’
家 jia1 ‘home’
合 he2 ‘close’
萬事 wan4shi4
‘everything’
興 xing1 ‘prosper’
先 xian1 ‘first’
小人 xiao3ren2
‘villain’
後 hou4 ‘after’
君子 jun1zi5
‘gentleman’
殺 sha1 ‘kill’
雞 ji1 ‘chicken’
焉 yan1’ ‘ herein’
用 yong4 ‘use’
牛 niu2 ‘cattle’
刀 dao1 ‘knife’
情人眼裡出西施
情人qing2ren2 ‘lover’
qing2ren2yan3li3chu1xi1shi1
眼 yan3 ‘eye’
裡 li3 ‘interior’
出 chu1 ‘produce’
西施 xi1shi1 ‘Sishi ’
人怕出名豬怕肥
人 ren2 ‘human’
ren2pa4chu1ming2zhu1pa4fei2 怕 pa4 ‘afraid’
出名 chu1ming2
‘famous’
豬 zhu1 ‘pig’
肥 fei2 ‘fat’
豹死留皮，人死留名
豹 bao4 ‘leopard’
bao4si3liu2pi2，
死 si3 ‘death’
ren2si3liu2ming2
留 liu2 ‘remain’
皮 pi2 ‘skin’
人 ren2 ‘person’
名 ming2 ‘name’
三十六計，走為上策
三十六 san1shi2liu4
san1shi2liu4ji4，
‘thirty-six’
計 ji4 ‘idea’
zou3wei2shang4ce4
Overall Meaning
‘Even though one is poor, one
should still have ambition.’
‘The family will prosper if all
members get along well with
each other.’
‘Be a mean person first before
being a gentleman.’ (Point out
the pitfalls before conducting
the business)
‘Killing a chicken with an oxcleaver.’/‘Using a sledge
hammer to crack a nut.’
‘Any girl can look like a Sishi in
her lover’s eyes.’ (Beauty is in
the eyes of the beholder.) In the
eye of the lover, his beloved is a
beauty.
‘Humans are afraid of becoming
famous; pigs are afraid of
growing fat.’ (Fame portends
trouble for men as fattening
does for pigs.)
‘When a leopard dies, it leaves
its skin; when a person dies,
they leave their reputation.
‘No. 36 method: escaping is the
best strategy’ (get away from a
troublesome site)
病從口入，禍從口出
bing4cong2kou3ru4，
huo4cong2kou3chu1
走 zou3 ‘leave’
為 wei2 ‘for’
上策 shang4ce4 ‘the
best plan’
病 bing4 ‘disease’
從cong2 ‘from’
口 kou3 ‘mouth’
入 ru4 ‘enter’
禍 huo4 ‘disaster’
出 chu1 ‘exit’
‘Illness comes in through the
mouth because of food; trouble
goes out through the mouth
because of words.’
做一天和尚，撞一天鐘
zuo4yi4tian1he2shang4，
zhuang4yi4tian1zhong1
做 zuo4 ‘do’
一天 yi4tian1 ‘one
day’
和尚 he2shang4
‘monk’
撞 zhuang4 ‘strike’
鐘 zhong1 ‘bell’
‘Being a monk one day, strike
the bell one day.’ (Do your duty
as long as you remain on the
post.)
司馬昭之心，路人皆知
si1ma3zhao1zhi1xin1，
lu4ren2jie1zhi1
司馬昭 si1ma3zhao1
‘Sima Zhao’
之zhi1 ‘of’
心 xin1 ‘heart’
路人 lu4ren2 ‘passerby’
皆 jie1 ‘all’
知 zhi1 ‘know’
人 ren2 ‘people’
善 shan4 ‘kindhearted’
被 bei4 ‘(passive
marker)’
欺 qi1 ‘deceive; to
fool’
馬 ma3 ‘horse’
騎 qi2 ‘ride’
天下 tian1xia4 ‘world’
無 wu2 ‘without’
難 nan2 ‘difficult’
事 shi4 ‘affairs’
只 hi3 ‘only’
怕 pa4 ‘fear’
有心 zyou3xin1
‘intentional’
人 ren2 ‘people’
‘The intention of Sima Zhao is
known to all pedestrians.’
(Everyone knows what you are
thinking.)
人善被人欺，馬善被人騎
ren2shan4bei4ren2qi1，
ma3shan4bei4ren2qi2
天下無難事，只怕有心人
tian1xia4wu2nan2shi4，
zhi3pa4you3xin1ren2
‘Nice people are bullied; docile
horses get ridden.’
‘There is nothing so difficult in
the world that cannot be
overcome by a persistent
person.’
Some examples of multisyllabic units in Table 7 are in the form of couplets, which are a
common feature in Chinese language and literature. These are created under various meter
and rhyme schemes and offer poetic readings as well as compact and cleverly encoded
meanings. Some couplets are written in big characters on red paper hung on the doors of
homes and workplaces for good luck. Figure 8 shows an example of a couplet which is often
written on paper scrolls and pasted on door frames during the Chinese spring festival.
竹
报
平
安
满
堂
春
zhu2
‘bamboo’
bao4
‘report’
hua1
‘flower’
kai1
‘open’
ping2
‘level’
fu4
‘rich’
an1
‘safe’
gui4
‘valuable’
man3
‘full’
quan2
‘entire’
tang2
‘hall’
jia1
‘home’
chun1
‘spring’
fu2
‘good
fortune’
Figure 8: A spring couplet
花
开
富
贵
全
家
福