Chinese Chengyu Dictionary
A dictionary of chengyu, the four-character Chinese idioms. Search by expression, character or pinyin.
| Chengyu | Pinyin | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| 八字没一撇 | bā zì méi yī piě | Translation not yet available |
| 巴高望上 | bā gāo wàng shàng | to wish for higher status (idiom); to curry favor in the hope of promotion |
| 巴前算后 | bā qián suàn hòu | thinking and pondering (idiom); to turn sth over in one's mind; to consider repeatedly |
| 巴三览四 | bā sān lǎn sì | to talk about this and that (idiom); to ramble incoherently |
| 巴山蜀水 | bā shān shǔ shuǐ | Translation not yet available |
| 巴山夜雨 | bā shān yè yǔ | rain on Mt Ba (idiom); lonely in a strange land; Evening Rain, 1980 movie about the Cultural Revolution |
| 巴头探脑 | bā tóu tàn nǎo | Translation not yet available |
| 拔本塞源 | bá běn sè yuán | Translation not yet available |
| 拔萃出群 | bá cuì chū qún | Translation not yet available |
| 拔刀相助 | bá dāo xiāng zhù | Translation not yet available |
| 拔地摇山 | bá dì yáo shān | Translation not yet available |
| 拔地倚天 | bá dì yǐ tiān | Translation not yet available |
| 拔丁抽楔 | bá dīng chōu xiē | Translation not yet available |
| 拔葵啖枣 | bá kuí dàn zǎo | Translation not yet available |
| 拔葵去织 | bá kuí qù zhī | Translation not yet available |
| 拔来报往 | bá lái fù wǎng | Translation not yet available |
| 拔了萝卜地皮宽 | bá le luó bo dì pí kuān | Translation not yet available |
| 拔茅连茹 | bá máo lián rú | Translation not yet available |
| 拔苗助长 | bá miáo zhù zhǎng | to spoil things through excessive enthusiasm (idiom) |
| 拔十得五 | bá shí dé wǔ | Translation not yet available |
| 拔山超海 | bá shān chāo hǎi | Translation not yet available |
| 拔山盖世 | bá shān gài shì | Translation not yet available |
| 拔山扛鼎 | bá shān gāng dǐng | Translation not yet available |
| 拔树寻根 | bá shù xún gēn | Translation not yet available |
| 拔犀擢象 | bá xī zhuó xiàng | Translation not yet available |
| 拔新领异 | bá xīn lǐng yì | Translation not yet available |
| 拔宅上升 | bá zhái shàng shēng | Translation not yet available |
| 拔帜易帜 | bá zhì yì zhì | Translation not yet available |
| 跋扈自恣 | bá hù zì zì | Translation not yet available |
| 跋前踬后 | bá qián zhì hòu | to trip forwards or stumble back (idiom, from Book of Songs); can't get anything right |
| 跋山涉水 | bá shān shè shuǐ | to travel over land and water (idiom) |
| 把臂入林 | bǎ bì rù lín | Translation not yet available |
| 把持不定 | bǎ chí bù dìng | indecisive (idiom) |
| 把饭叫饥 | bǎ fàn jiào jī | Translation not yet available |
| 把素持斋 | bǎ sù chí zhāi | Translation not yet available |
| 把玩无厌 | bǎ wán wǔ yàn | Translation not yet available |
| 罢黜百家 | bā chù bǎi jiā | Translation not yet available |
| 霸陵醉尉 | bà líng zuì wèi | Translation not yet available |
| 霸王别姬 | bà wáng bié jī | The Conqueror Bids Farewell to His Favorite Concubine (tragic opera by Mei Lanfang 梅蘭芳|梅兰芳[Mei2 Lan2 fang1]); Farewell My Concubine (1993 film by Chen Kaige) |
| 霸王风月 | bà wáng fēng yuè | Translation not yet available |
Search by Chinese expression, character or pinyin.
The most frequent idioms are also on a separate dictionary page.
12,999 chengyu listed.
What a chengyu is, and what it is not
A chengyu is almost always four characters long, and it is not a proverb. It is a compressed classical phrase that Chinese still uses in ordinary speech and writing: the characters keep an old order and an old meaning, and unpacking them word by word will not give you the sense. That is why looking one up is a different job from looking up a word.
This tool searches the table of idioms by expression, character or pinyin. If you already have the four characters in front of you, that is the way in. If you do not, and you want to see which idioms are common enough to be worth knowing first, the browseable list is the other half of the same subject.