Chengyu

Browse 4217 vocabulary cards in Chengyu, with Chinese words, pinyin and meanings. Study this list with spaced repetition. — Page 66

Classical four-character idioms (成语). Best after you have a basic vocabulary.

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• 藏头露尾 / 藏頭露尾 — cáng tóu lù wěi — to hide the head and show the tail (idiom) · to give a partial account
• 三魂七魄 — sān hún qī pò — three immortal souls and seven mortal forms in Daoism, contrasting the spiritual and carnal side of man
• 泰山北斗 — tài shān běi dǒu — Mount Tai and the Big Dipper (idiom)
• 龙蛇混杂 / 龍蛇混雜 — lóng shé hùn zá — literally dragons and snakes mingle (idiom)
• 狗头军师 / 狗頭軍師 — gǒu tóu jūn shī — inept advisor
• 以邻为壑 / 以鄰為壑 — yǐ lín wéi hè — to use one's neighbor as a drain
• 柔肠寸断 / 柔腸寸斷 — róu cháng cùn duàn — literally to feel as if one's intestines have been cut short
• 残花败柳 / 殘花敗柳 — cán huā bài liǔ — broken flower, withered willow (idiom) · figuratively fallen woman
• 学而不厌 / 學而不厭 — xué ér bù yàn — study tirelessly (idiom, from Analects)
• 良药苦口 / 良藥苦口 — liáng yào kǔ kǒu — good medicine tastes bitter (idiom) · figuratively frank criticism is hard to swallow
• 恩断义绝 / 恩斷義絕 — ēn duàn yì jué — to split up · to break all ties
• 赤身露体 / 赤身露體 — chì shēn lù tǐ — completely naked
• 一触即溃 / 一觸即潰 — yī chù jí kuì — to collapse on the first encounter · to give way at once
• 断袖之癖 / 斷袖之癖 — duàn xiù zhī pǐ — literally cut sleeve (idiom) · figuratively euphemism for homosexuality, originating from History of Western Han 汉书: emperor Han Aidi (real name Liu Xin) was in bed with his lover Dong Xian, and had to attend a court audience that morning. Not wishing to awaken Dong Xian, who was sleeping with his head resting on the emperor's long robe sleeve, Aidi used a knife to cut off the lower half of his sleeve.
• 鬼话连篇 / 鬼話連篇 — guǐ huà lián piān — to tell one lie after another (idiom)
• 事无大小 / 事無大小 — shì wú dà xiǎo — see 事无巨细 shì wú jù xì
• 硕大无朋 / 碩大無朋 — shuò dà wú péng — very big · huge
• 党同伐异 / 黨同伐異 — dǎng tóng fá yì — to be narrowly partisan
• 加官进爵 / 加官進爵 — jiā guān jìn jué — promotion to the nobility (idiom)
• 认贼作父 / 認賊作父 — rèn zéi zuò fù — literally to acknowledge the bandit as one's father (idiom) · figuratively a complete betrayal
• 心神恍惚 — xīn shén huǎng hū — perturbed (idiom)
• 仰人鼻息 — yǎng rén bí xī — to rely on others for the air one breathes (idiom) · to depend on someone's whim for one's living
• 精卫填海 / 精衛填海 — jīng wèi tián hǎi — literally mythical bird Jingwei tries to fill the ocean with stones (idiom) · futile ambition
• 鹬蚌相争 / 鷸蚌相爭 — yù bàng xiāng zhēng — abbreviation for 鹬蚌相争，渔翁得利 yù bàng xiāng zhēng , yú wēng dé lì
• 望而兴叹 / 望而興嘆 — wàng ér xīng tàn — to sigh (in dismay, admiration and so on)
• 不违农时 / 不違農時 — bù wéi nóng shí — not miss the farming season
• 博古通今 — bó gǔ tōng jīn — conversant with things past and present
• 不知凡几 / 不知凡幾 — bù zhī fán jǐ — one can't tell how many
• 文治武功 — wén zhì wǔ gōng — political and military achievements (idiom)
• 照猫画虎 / 照貓畫虎 — zhào māo huà hǔ — literally drawing a tiger using a cat as a model (idiom) · figuratively to follow a model and get things more or less right but without capturing the spirit of the subject
• 一鳞半爪 / 一鱗半爪 — yī lín bàn zhǎo — literally one scale and half a claw (idiom)
• 徐娘半老 — xú niáng bàn lǎo — middle-aged but still attractive woman
• 念兹在兹 / 念茲在茲 — niàn zī zài zī — see 念念不忘 niàn niàn bù wàng
• 襟怀坦白 / 襟懷坦白 — jīn huái tǎn bái — open and candid (idiom) · not hiding anything
• 乘龙快婿 / 乘龍快婿 — chéng lóng kuài xù — ideal son-in-law
• 屈指一算 — qū zhǐ yī suàn — to count on one's fingers
• 杯弓蛇影 — bēi gōng shé yǐng — literally to see a bow reflected in a cup as a snake (idiom) · figuratively unnecessary suspicions
• 螳臂当车 / 螳臂當車 — táng bì dāng chē — a mantis trying to stop a chariot (idiom)
• 踽踽独行 / 踽踽獨行 — jǔ jǔ dú xíng — to walk alone (idiom)
• 形影相吊 / 形影相弔 — xíng yǐng xiāng diào — with only body and shadow to comfort each other (idiom)
• 走为上计 / 走為上計 — zǒu wéi shàng jì — see 三十六计，走为上策 sān shí liù jì , zǒu wéi shàng cè
• 独断独行 / 獨斷獨行 — dú duàn dú xíng — to decide and act alone (idiom) · to take arbitrary action
• 哀而不伤 / 哀而不傷 — āi ér bù shāng — deeply felt but not mawkish (idiom)
• 攀龙附凤 / 攀龍附鳳 — pān lóng fù fèng — see 扳龙附凤 bān lóng fù fèng
• 血债累累 / 血債累累 — xuè zhài lěi lěi — debts of blood crying out for retribution
• 兔死狗烹 — tù sǐ gǒu pēng — when the rabbit is dead, the hunting dogs are cooked (idiom)
• 一元复始 / 一元復始 — yī yuán fù shǐ — a new year begins (idiom)
• 众口铄金 / 眾口鑠金 — zhòng kǒu shuò jīn — literally public opinion is powerful enough to melt metal (idiom)
• 得陇望蜀 / 得隴望蜀 — dé lǒng wàng shǔ — literally covet Sichuan once Gansu has been seized
• 大雨如注 — dà yǔ rú zhù — pouring with rain