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 1shows 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 ‘iron-tree-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.
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 wholesentence.
(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 / Component Analysis / Overall Meaning / Example Usage老馬識途
lao3ma3shi4tu2 / 老馬lao3ma3 ‘old horse’
識shi4 ‘know’
途tu2 ‘way’ / ‘old horse who knows the way’ (a person of rich experience) / 小王老馬識途，不會迷路。
‘Little Wang knows the way. He won’t get lost.’
老蚌生珠
lao3bang4sheng1zhu1 / 老蚌lao3bang4 ‘old shellfish’
生sheng1 ‘produce’
珠zhu1 ‘bead’ / ‘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
‘Mariah Carey, an old oyster yielding a pearl, four months into pregnancy with a round belly.’
盲人摸象
mang4ren2mo1xiang4 / 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
‘When emigrating, do not make decisions based on incomplete information.’
愚公移山
yu2gong1yi2shan1 / 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
‘Promote the Yugong moving mountain spirit. Persevere – do not give up.’
世風日下
shi4feng1ri4xia4 / 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
‘Public morals are declining by the day; the human heart is dangerous and evil.’
孤掌難鳴
gu1zhang3nan2ming2 / 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
‘12 nations on NATO against using force, difficult for US to act alone.’
全軍覆沒
Quan2jun1fu4mo4 / 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
‘All challengers defeated, hot girl in mainland invites suitors to play video games and win her as a prize.’
刀刀見血
dao1dao1jian4xie3 / 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。
‘Bo Xilai with GuKailai; every stab sees blood’
壯士斷腕
zhuang4shi4duan4wan3 / 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
‘Continue to reform with the determination of a brave man breaking his own wrist.’
孟母三遷
meng4mu3san1qian1 / 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
‘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 1as 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 four-character idiom, for example, the VP portion is often replaced by an AP (adjective or adverbial phrase), like the one shown in Figure 2.
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 / Component Analysis / Overall Meaning / Example Usage天網恢恢
tian1wang3hui1hui1 / 天tian1 ‘sky’
網wang3 ‘net’
恢恢hui1hui1 ‘vast’ / ‘the net of Heaven has a large mesh, but it lets nothing through’ / 天网恢恢，疏而不漏
‘The net of Heaven may have a large mesh but it never lets anything through.’
妙手空空
miao4shou3kong1kong1 / 妙miao4 ‘wonderful’
手shou3 ‘hand’
空kong1 ‘empty’ / ‘fantastic hands empty looking’ (highly skillful thief) / 偷竊技能妙手空空
‘The skills for stealing make it impossible to see how the hands work.’
衣冠楚楚
yi1guan1chu3chu3 / 衣yi1 ‘clothes’
冠guan1 ‘cap’
楚楚chu3chu3 ‘bright and clear’ / ‘impressively dresses’ / 一个衣冠楚楚的老仆人
‘an old servant sprucely dresses’
落英繽紛
luo4ying1bin1fen1 / 落英luo4ying1 ‘fallen petals’
繽紛bin1fen1 ‘in riotous profusion / ‘fallen petals lie in profusion’ (beautiful seasonal scene) / 落英繽紛的季節
‘a season when many flowers fall to the ground’
醉眼惺忪
zui4yan3xing1song1 / 醉zui4 ‘drunk’
眼yan3 ‘eye’
惺忪xing1song1 ‘(of eyes) not fully open’ / ‘sleepy-eyed from drink’ / 喝到醉眼惺忪
‘drinking until one’s eyes become blurred’
晨星落落
chen2xing1luo4luo4 / 晨chen2 ‘morning’
星xing1 ‘star’
落落luo4luo4 ‘fall behind’ / ‘few morning stars’ / 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’
殺氣騰騰
sha1qi4teng2teng2 / 殺氣sha1qi4 ‘murderous-looking’
騰騰teng2teng2 ‘steaming’ / ‘killing energy steaming’ (murderous looking) / 殺氣騰騰的水槍之戰
‘a water gun fight full of murderous intentions’
事事如意
shi4shi4ru2yi4 / 事事shi4shi4 ‘everything’
如意ru2yi4 ‘as one wishes’ / ‘all things as one wishes’ / 祝贺大家事事如意！
‘I hope everything goes smoothly for everybody!’
威風凜凜
wei1feng1lin3lin3 / 威風wei1feng1 ‘power and prestige ’
凜凜lin3lin3 ‘stern ’ / ‘awe-inspiring and stern’ (majestic looking) / 全副武裝威風凜凜
‘fully armed and looking impressive’
千里迢迢
qian1li3tiao2tiao2 / 千里qian1li3 ‘long distance’
迢迢tiao2tiao2 ‘far away’ / ‘thousand miles away’ (very far) / 千里迢迢远赴莫斯科
‘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.
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 four-character 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 / Overall Meaning / Example Usage英雄氣短
ying1xiong2qi4duan3 / 英雄ying1xiong2 ‘hero’
氣qi4 ‘breath’
短duan3 ‘short ’ / ‘a hero in short breaths’ (a good man caught in difficult circumstances) / 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 Aoof 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
‘The American media says Apple has run out of ideas.’
黔驢技窮
qian2lu2ji4qiong2 / 黔qian2 ‘Guizhou’
驢lu2 ‘donkey’
技ji4 ‘skill’
窮qiong2 ‘destitute; poor’ / ‘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
‘Cabinet reshuffle offers nothing new; Ma Ying-jeou runs out of tactics.’
哲人其萎
zhe2ren2qi2wei3 / 哲人zhe2ren2 ‘a wise man’
其qi2 ‘that’
萎wei3 ‘wilt’ / ‘philosophical person withered’ (A wise man has passed away) / 哲人其萎，风范犹存
‘A philosopher has died but his legacy remains.’
洛陽紙貴
luo4yang2zhi3gui4 / 洛陽luo4yang2 ‘the Royang city’
紙zhi3 ‘paper’
貴gui4 ‘expensive’ / ‘The price of paper soars in Luoyang’ (A publication becomes extremely popular) / 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 Topic-Comment 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-paper-expensive’ 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.
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 / Component Analysis / Overall Meaning / Example Usage龍爭虎鬥
long2zheng1hu3dou4 / 龍long2 ‘dragon’
爭zheng1 ‘compete’
虎hu3 ‘tiger’
鬥dou4 ‘fight’ / ‘the dragon wars, the tiger battles’ (fierce battle between formidable foes) / 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 prize like the melon was mature and detached from the stalk.’
頭昏腦脹
tou2hun1nao3zhang4 / 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？
‘What causes the head to feel confused and swollen?’
面黃肌瘦
main4huang2ji1shou4 / 面main4 ‘face ’
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
‘five reasons that cause a child to have a yellowish face and thin body’
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？
‘In a joint business venture, how can you avoid being stabbed in the back after establishing the business?’
蠶食鯨吞
can2shi2jing1tun1 / 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
‘Electronic books in the US continue to invade the traditional publishing industry.’
狼吞虎嚥
lang2tun1hu3yan4 / 狼lang2 ‘wolf’
吞tun1 ‘swallow’
虎hu3 ‘tiger’
嚥yan4 ‘swallow’ / ‘gulp down like wolves and tigers do’ / 吃東西不要狼吞虎嚥。
‘Do not gulp like an animal when you eat.’
眼高手低
yan3gao3shou3di1 / 眼yan3 ‘eye’
高gao1 ‘high’
手shou3 ‘hand ’
低di1 ‘low’ / ‘eyes high hands low’ (fastidious and demanding but inept) / 新人不能吃苦眼高手低离职率高
‘Newbies cannot stand hardship, aiming high and yielding low; the probability of them quitting their jobs is high.’
眉開眼笑
mei2kai1yan3xiao4 / 眉mei2 ‘eyebrow’
開kai1 ‘open’
眼yan3 ‘eye’
笑xiao4 ‘smile’ / ‘eyebrows open eyes smiling’ (beam with joy) / 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’ / ‘water drips through rock’ (Little strokes fell great oaks) / 以水滴石穿的精神推动中国变革
‘Promote the reform of China in the spirit of water wearing away stone.’
Not all quadrisyllabicunits 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’.
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 蛇尾
fan3 fu3 bu2 yao4 hu3 tou2 she2 wei3
‘against’ ‘corruption’ ‘not’ ‘want’ ‘tiger’ ‘head’ ‘snake’ ‘tail’
‘In combating corruption, do not be anticlimactic.’
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 / Overall Meaning / Example Usage毛手毛腳
mao2shou3mao2jiao3 / 毛mao2 ‘hair’
手shou3 ‘hand’
腳jiao3 ‘foot’ / ‘hairy hands hairy feet’ (be careless in handling things) / 可恶！竟然对美女毛手毛脚！
‘Damn! How dare (he) grope the pretty girl!’
鳳毛麟角
feng4mao2lin2jiao3 / 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
‘Billionaires are not that rare; there are 960 in Dalian.’
鬼頭鬼腦
gui3tou2gui3nao3 / 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
‘The annoying old man keeps hanging around stealthily.’
風花雪月
feng1hua1xue3yue4 / 風feng1 ‘wind’
花hua1 ‘flower’
雪xue3 ‘snow’
月yue4 ‘moon’ / ‘wind, flowers, snow and moon’ (romantic themes; love affairs) / 一场风花雪月的事
‘a romantic affair’
難兄難弟
nan4xiong1nan4di4 / 難nan4 ‘calamity’
兄xiong1 ‘elder brother’
弟di4 ‘younger brother’ / ‘brothers in difficulty’
(two of a kind) / 国足与男篮，一對難兄難弟
‘the national football team and the male basketball team, a pair of brothers in sorrow’
雞毛蒜皮
ji1mao2suan4pi2 / 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
‘Like chicken feathers and garlic skin, trivial matters are areflection of real life.’
花言巧語
hua1yan2qiao3yu3 / 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
‘deceived by the salesperson’s beguiling words’
銅牆鐵壁
tong2qiang2tie3bi4 / 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
‘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’ / ‘wine pool meat forest’ (extremely extravagant lifestyle) / 天天过著酒池肉林的生活
‘living an extravagant lifestyle’
豐衣足食
feng1yi1zu2shi2 / 豐feng1 ‘abundant, great, or plentiful;’
衣yi1 ‘clothing’
足zu2 ‘enough’
食shi2 ‘food’ / ‘ample clothes adequate food’ (well fed and clad) / 豐衣足食就沒人偷竊
‘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.
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 / Component Analysis / Overall Meaning / Example Usage畫蛇添足
hua4she2tian1zu2 / 畫hua4 ‘draw’
蛇she2 ‘snake’
添tian1 ‘add’
足zu2 ‘foot’ / ‘add feet when drawing a snake’ (unnecessarily improve something and achieve poorer result) / 畫蛇添足的爛計謀
‘a lousy plan like adding feet when drawing a snake’
飲水思源
yin3shui3si1yuan2 / 飲yin3 ‘drink’
水shui3 ‘water’
思si1 ‘think’
源yuan2 ‘source’ / ‘think about the source when drinking water’ (remember where one’s happiness comes from) / 饮水思源忆母校
‘remembering yourold school where you gained knowledge’
隱惡揚善
yin3e4yang2shan4 / 隱yin3 ‘hidden from view’
惡e4 ‘evil’
揚yang2 ‘raise highly’
善shan4 ‘good’ / ‘hide faults and publicize merits’ / 教导孩子隐恶扬善
‘teaching children to forgive bad deeds and praise good deeds’
醉生夢死
zui4sheng1meng1si3 / 醉zui4 ‘drunk’
生sheng1 ‘live’
夢meng1 ‘dream’
死si3 ‘death’ / ‘live in drunken state or in a dream as if dead’ (lead a befuddled life) / 生活在醉生梦死之中
‘living in a drunken and dreamy state’
臥薪嚐膽
wo4xin1chang2dan3 / 臥wo4 ‘lie’
薪xin1 ‘firewood’
嚐chang2 ‘taste’
膽dan3 ‘gallbladder’ / ‘lie on wood and taste gall’ (undergo self-imposed hardships and nurse ambition or vengeance) / 卧薪尝胆成就微软霸业
‘enduring hardships to create the Microsoft empire’
聞雞起舞
wen2ji1qi3wu3 / 聞wen2 ‘hear’
雞ji1 ‘rooster’
起qi3 ‘got up’
舞wu3 ‘dance’ / ‘hear rooster; rise and exercise’ (get up early and do exercise) / 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
‘walking on tiptoes for fear of waking the cat’
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) / 走馬看花遊17公里海岸風景區
‘superficially touring 17 kilometers of scenic routes along the coast’
解甲歸田
jie3jia3gui1tian2 / 解Jie3 ‘take off’
甲jia3 ‘armour’
歸gui1 ‘go back’
田tian2 ‘farmland’ / ‘take off one’sarmour and return to the farm’ (retire from the army) / 支持丈夫解甲归田
‘in support of one’s husband’s retirement from the army and return to the countryside’
見異思遷
jian4yi4si1qian1 / 見jian4 ‘see ’
異yi4 ‘different’
思si1 ‘consider’
遷qian1 ‘change’ / ‘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
‘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.