Information AboutFour-character Idiom |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT FOUR-CHARACTER IDIOM | |
| chinese language | |
| japanese vocabulary | |
|
Four-character idioms, or '''chéngyǔ''' (成語/成语, literally "to become (part of) the language") are widely used in 文言 Classical Chinese , a literary form used in the Chinese Written Language from Antiquity to until 1919, and are still commonly used in Vernacular writing today. Classical Chinese can be compared to the way Latin was used in the Western world in science until recently. According to the most stringent definition, there are about 5,000 ''chéngyǔ'' in Chinese, though some dictionaries list over 20,000. ''Chéngyǔ'' are mostly derived from Ancient Literature . The meaning of a chéngyǔ usually surpasses the sum of the meanings carried by the four characters, as ''chéngyǔ''s are often intimately linked with the myth, story or historical fact from which they were derived. As such, ''chéngyǔ'' do not follow the usual grammatical structure and syntax of the modern Chinese Spoken Language , and are instead highly compact and synthetic. ''Chéngyǔ'' in isolation are often unintelligible to modern Chinese, and when students in China learn ''chéngyǔ'' in school as part of the Classical curriculum, they also need to study the context from which the ''chéngyǔ'' was born. Often the four characters reflect the moral behind the story rather than the story itself. For example, the phrase "破釜沉舟" It was based on a historical account where General Xiang Yu ordered his troop to destroy all Cooking Utensil s and boats after crossing a river into the enemy's territory. He won the battle because of this "no-retreat" policy. The phrase is used when one succeeds by burning the bridge. This particular idiom cannot be used in a losing scenario because the story behind it does not describe a failure. Another example is 瓜田李下 However, that is not to say that all chengyu are born of an oft-told fable; indeed, chengyu which are free of metaphorical nuances pervade amidst the otherwise contextually-driven aspect of vernacular Chinese. An example of this is 言而无信 (yán ér wú xìn, literally "speaks yet (is) without trust"), which refers to an individual who cannot be trusted despite what he says, or essentially a deceitful person. The idiom itself is not derived from a specific occurrence from which a moral may be explicitly drawn; instead, it is succinct in its original meaning and would likely be intelligible to an individual learned in formal written Chinese. Note that the only classical-vernacular discrepancy present in this ''chéngyǔ'' lies in the fact that 言 is no longer used as a verb in modern Chinese. CHINESE EXAMPLES The following three examples show that the meaning of the idiom can be totally different by only changing one character. ; "One day, a thousand autumns." :Usage/Moral: implies rapid changes; one day equals a thousand years ; "One day, a thousand miles." :Usage/Moral: implies rapid progress; traveling a thousand miles in a day ; "One day, three autumns." :Usage/Moral: greatly missing someone; one day feels as long as three years Other examples in Chinese: JAPANESE EXAMPLES Four-character idiom is a common technique to make a memorizable phrase or idiom. In Japanese , The term 四字熟語 ( Yojijukugo ) (四字 ''yoji'' four Chinese Character s + 熟語 ''jukugo'' idiom) itself is a four-character idiom. Many of these idioms were adopted from their Chinese counterparts and have the same or similar meaning as in Chinese. The term 故事成語 (''koji'' historical + ''seigo'' Idiom ) is mainly used to describe idioms which are regarded as being Chinese or of Chinese origin, although not all ''kojiseigo'' are made up of four characters. Among the idioms are: ; "As if there were nobody beside (you)." :Usage/Moral: One has a very high and often misguided opinion of self and acts any way s/he wants that tend to cause trouble for others. It is rarely used positively. :Source: The Biography of Xiè Shàng (謝尚), Volume 79, the Chronicle of Jìn . ; "Start, Continue, Change, Conclusion" :Usage/Moral: This is the simplest way to make a story or a poem. ; "Flower, Bird, Wind, Moon" :Usage/Moral: The very beauties that nature holds. :Source: The Spitz album with the same name. SEE ALSO |
|
|