There are many idioms. The Small Dictionary of Chinese Idioms published by the Commercial Press 1958 contains more than 3,000 idioms. In fact, there are still many idioms that have not been included. The actual number of idioms is definitely much more than that in this small dictionary. How are these idioms formed? Generally speaking, there are mainly the following sources:
(1) Historical facts
Some idioms come from historical facts. Some of them summarize a historical event into idioms; Some cut or change famous sentences in history into idioms. Here are some idioms from historical facts:
(1) According to Records of Historical Records and Biography of Lin Xiangru, during the Warring States Period, King Huiwen, the monarch of Zhao State, got a piece of jade, and Zhao Haoqi, the monarch of Qin State, wrote to the prince of Zhao saying that he was willing to exchange fifteen cities for this piece of jade. Zhao is weaker than Qin. It knows that Qin's words are unreliable, but it dare not expose Qin's lies publicly. In this case, Lin Xiangru, the minister of Zhao, went to Qin to deal with this matter. When he left, he said, "If Qin gives Zhao fifteen cities, give this jade to Qin. If you can't get the city, you must return the jade to Zhao without blemish. The original Historical Records was returned to Zhao intact. ) "Lin Xiangru went to the state of Qin and presented the jade to the king of Qin, but he saw that the king of Qin didn't really mean to give fifteen cities to Zhao, so he tactfully made up a reason to want the jade back from the king of Qin and secretly sent his entourage back to Zhao. Later, people used "things returned to their original owners" to mean that the original things were returned to their owners intact. These four words have become idioms.
(2) According to Records of the Historian and Biography of Fan Sui, during the Warring States Period, Fan Sui (Ren Wei), the prime minister of Qin State, asked his enemy, doctor JOE of Wei State, "Do you know how many sins you have committed?" Su Jia said, "Pull out one of my hairs and record my sins. Not enough hair. " (The original "Historical Records" is "slap Jia Zhifa is not enough to continue Jia's crime." Later, I used the metaphor of "countless" to describe the number of sins. "Hard to count" has become an idiom.
These two idioms, which are derived from historical facts, are "Give everything back to Zhao" and "Countless", and they are both made by intercepting or changing Chinese sentences in history books. This idiom does not account for a large proportion of all idioms. These idioms, such as "joining the army with a pen", "retiring from three houses", "losing one's lips and getting cold teeth", "working hard" and "waiting for the market", all come from historical facts.
(2) Previous stories
Some idioms come from the stories of predecessors. Such stories are true, but their stories are not very important in history. Some of these idioms are funny, and some have good rhetorical effects, so they are widely used. Now give a few examples to illustrate their sources.
(1) In the Song Dynasty, there was a painter named Wen Tong who was good at painting bamboo. At that time, the writer Chao wrote a poem saying, "When you can draw bamboo, you have a plan in mind." Later, "planning" became a widely used idiom to praise people who have confidence in handling things.
(2) Xie Wuyi, who made a lot of noise in the Song Dynasty, asked Pan Da if he had written any poems recently. Pan Dalin wrote him a letter saying: Everything since autumn is a good poem. Yesterday, when I was lying leisurely, I heard the sound of wind and rain in the Woods. I got up in high spirits and wrote on the wall: "The storm in the city is near Chongyang". Suddenly, the person who urged me to pay the rent came, and I was greatly disappointed. Only this sentence is sent to you. Later, the word "all over the city" became a widely used idiom, meaning that many people are talking about something new.
In addition, idioms such as "mighty and unyielding", "too big to lose", "carrying firewood to put out the fire" and "too many people to find it" all come from the stories of predecessors.
(3) Fables and legends
There are also some profound fables in ancient books, which are also the source of idioms. This idiom often has a lesson or moral meaning. Now give a few examples to explain.
(A) "Liezi Tian Rui" alarmist said: "In the Zhou Dynasty, there was a man in the State of Qi who was afraid that the sky would fall and had nowhere to live. He didn't even have the mind to sleep and eat." Later, he used the idiom "worrying about the sky" to describe unnecessary worry.
(2) Zhuangzi Qiushui, a toddler in Handan, said, "There is a young man in Shouling, the state of Yan, who is a toddler in Handan, the capital of Zhao (Zhao is good at walking)." Instead of learning skills, he lost his original footwork and had to climb home with his hands. "Later, I used' Handan Toddler' as an idiom, which meant imitating others when they were not at home, and even lost their original skills.
(3) A story in Lu Chunqiu. "Self-knowledge" said that Doctor Fan of the State of Jin died, and the people got a bell and wanted to take it away. It's just that the clock is too big to carry. So he broke it with a hammer, and the bell rang again. People are afraid that others will hear the noise and grab the clock, so they quickly block their ears and think that they can't hear it, so others can't hear it. There is also this story in Huai Nan Zi's Talking about Mountain Training. That's how the idiom "stealing an ear bell" came from, except that the word "bell" was changed to "bell". This idiom means that the deceiver uses very clumsy methods, but he thinks he can deceive others. There is also a saying in the idiom "Steal the bell from the ear", which comes from the story of the Three Kingdoms and is similar to "Steal the bell from the ear", except that the mass base is poor and few people use it.
Idioms from fables often contain a sense of humor and profound educational significance. Such as Waiting for the Rabbit, Carving a Boat for a Sword, and Painting a Snake to Add Foot. This idiom, in all idioms, accounts for a small proportion.
(4) the original sentence of the ancients
Some idioms are all made up of old sentences, such as:
(1) "The meaning of drunkenness is not in wine". See Ouyang Xiu, a writer in the Song Dynasty, "The meaning of drunkenness is not in wine, but in mountains and rivers." The drunk's mind is not on drinking, but on enjoying the mountains and rivers here. Later generations took "the meaning of drunkenness is not in wine" as an idiom, meaning "ulterior motives" and "other purposes".
(B) bottoming out Su Shi's "Red Cliff Fu": "The mountain is high and the moon is small, bottoming out." "Get to the bottom of it" was originally a pure landscape sentence, and later generations used it as an idiom to express the real situation.
(3) The idiom "Going to the next level" not only uses the sentences in previous articles completely, but also "going to the next level" is the poem "In the Heron Building" by Wang Zhihuan, a poet in the Tang Dynasty. The original poem is: "The mountains cover the day, and the ocean drains the golden river. But as long as you go up a flight of stairs, you can broaden your horizons by 300 miles. " The idiom "go up a storey still higher" means to improve and expand on the existing basis.
Idioms such as "a smile is a thousand dollars", "strange things", "writing a chapter" and "blockbuster" all use the sentences of predecessors. This idiom accounts for a large proportion of all idioms. Even though it has obvious idiom characteristics, the aphorisms of predecessors that people occasionally quote are not idioms, but quotations. But if people use it frequently and get familiar with it, they will regard it as an idiom.
(5) Intercept or change ancient sentences.
Some idioms don't use the sentences of the ancients directly, but intercept or slightly change the sentences of the ancients before using them. The reason for interception or modification is mainly to make it conform to the structural form of idioms. (See "four-character idiom" above) For example:
(1) There are two sentences in the first part of Mencius Gaozi: "Life is also what I want; Righteousness is also what I want. " You can't have your cake and eat it, but you have to sacrifice your life for justice. From these two sentences, later generations took out the word "sacrifice one's life for righteousness" as an idiom, indicating that he would sacrifice the noble quality of his life in order to safeguard justice.
(2) There are a few words in the first part of Mencius Gaozi, revealing (pù) Ten Cold: "Although there are things that are easy to live in the world, if they are exposed for one day, they will be cold for ten days, and no one can live." Although there are things that are easy to grow in the world, nothing can grow after being left to dry for ten days. Later generations picked out the word "one exposure and ten cold" from these words as an idiom, which means that a person has no perseverance, spends less time working hard and wastes more time.
(3) There is a sentence in the first part of Mencius: "Andy took it for me and pulled out a dime to benefit the world." Andy is extremely selfish. Even if taking a hair from him could benefit the world, he wouldn't do it. Later generations changed "don't pull out a hair" in this sentence to "don't pull out a hair" as an idiom to describe extremely selfish and stingy people.
(4) There are two poems by Su Lin in the Song Dynasty: "The moon comes first near the water tower, and flowers and trees are easy to spring in the sun." Later, the word "get the moon first by the advantage of the water" was cut off as an idiom, meaning that you can get benefits before ordinary people when conditions are convenient.
Idioms such as "a famous person", "the length of a day", "birds of a feather", "Sanqiu in one day" and "in a word" all belong to this category. This idiom also accounts for a large proportion in all idioms.
(6) Refined phrases used by people
When it comes to the source of idioms, people always think of the so-called idioms with sources mentioned above first. In fact, a large proportion of idioms are those idioms that can't find the real original source now. Most of these idioms were created by the people. Some of them also have a strong oral color and flavor of life. Such as "looking for a needle in a haystack", "cursing mulberry trees", "starting a new stove", "3322", "bold" and "swallowing dates" and so on. This idiom, because of its good rhetorical devices and expressive effects, has been widely used by people, not only in written language, but also in spoken language, and even in spoken language very early. If someone sees this idiom in ancient books and thinks that the author of a book is the creator of this idiom, I am afraid it may not be reliable. For example, some idioms found in quotations of Song people and some idioms found in dramas of Yuan people may not have originated in the Song and Yuan Dynasties, but they may all be early.
(7) Proverbs and aphorisms
Some idioms were written in books two or three thousand years ago. Although it looks elegant in classical Chinese, it is actually a proverb or proverb used orally by the masses. For example, "better late than never" and "golden broom" all belong to this category. Why do you know these idioms are proverbs or proverbs? Because the ancients who used these idioms have already said it in ancient books. For example, The Warring States Policy Chu Ce said: "I have heard an old saying: It is not too late to mend." The sheep raised in the sheepfold have run away. It's not too late to mend before the other sheep run away. Cao Pi's Essays on Canon said: "China people say that a broom at home is a child's daughter" (meaning: as the saying goes, a broken broom at home is as valuable as a daughter. Is enjoyment "when" or "for"? "Historical Records: Biography of Tian Lei" said: "As the saying goes, the ruler is short and the inch is long." The so-called rude words, slang or proverbs and proverbs refer to folk proverbs or proverbs. In fact, some idioms come from proverbs or common sayings, and there are also idioms in ancient books that are not necessarily marked as "Li language" or "common saying".
In addition, there are some proverbs and sayings, which are not as neat and elegant as general idioms, and are obviously said by the people. But because they are easy to understand. It has a good expression effect, so it is widely used by people and has become an idiom. For example, "the bull's head is not right for the horse's mouth", "sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight", "everyone gathers firewood and the flame is high" and "the world is as black as a crow" all belong to this category.
(8) Foreign idioms
Some idioms we use come from foreign countries. For example, during the Wei, Jin, Six Dynasties, Sui and Tang Dynasties, China translated many Buddhist scriptures popular in the Western Regions and India. Many sentences and allusions in Buddhist scriptures have long been Chinese idioms. For example, "spotless", "self-expression", "cheerful", "incredible", "never leaving" and "going back to the shore" are all. Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, cultural exchanges between China and the West have become increasingly frequent, and some western allusions, aphorisms and fine sentences in Chinese versions of western works have become idioms used by China people. For example, time is golden, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, new wine in old bottles, burning chestnuts, metabolism, natural selection, the law of the jungle, trading according to principles, and paying according to work are all examples.
(9) the transformation of idioms
As mentioned above, idioms are fixed phrases or sentences, and generally cannot be changed casually. But sometimes in order to express or write, you can change one or two words and use them skillfully. This modified idiom often has a strong expressive effect, because changing the idiom into one or two words can attract readers' attention. This method has existed since ancient times. For example, the idiom "extremes meet" comes from the "crown cycle". It means that when things go to extremes, they must turn to the opposite side. Later, some people changed it to "extremes meet" and felt more positive and powerful. In the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Wan Xin, a famous writer in the Northern Zhou Dynasty, wrote "Mourning for the South of the Yangtze River" and changed this idiom to "extremes meet" to express his helpless indignation. Another example is the idiom "get twice the result with half the effort", which comes from Mencius' Gongsun Chou and means get twice the result with half the effort. Later, someone changed the position of the word "half" and "times" in this idiom to "get twice the result with half the effort" to show that hard work has little effect. But in ancient times, there were few examples of using idioms in this way. Now that we have entered the great socialist era, some previous ideological mistakes and limitations have been clearly exposed. So more people use idioms to express new ideas. For example, change "haste makes waste" to "haste makes waste"; Change "kill two birds with one stone" to "kill three birds with one stone" and "kill many birds with one stone"; Change "kill two birds with one stone" to "kill three birds with one arrow" and "kill many birds with one arrow"; Change "retreat despite difficulties" to "advance despite difficulties" and so on.
Times have changed. Living in the new society is different from living in the old society, and people's thoughts, feelings and mental outlook have changed greatly. Old rules and regulations can no longer bind us, and some old idioms are obviously not suitable for today's society. For example, those who have a * * * production style, dare to despise difficulties and dare to win will never "retreat from difficulties". It is natural that the new idiom "Advance despite difficulties" comes into being. This can be regarded as turning negative into positive, and at the same time, it has received the effect of "making the past serve the present".
(10) Freshmen Idioms
Most of the idioms we use now have been circulated or produced in succession for two or three thousand years. With the development and evolution of society, according to the actual needs of social life, idioms expressing new ideology will naturally emerge one after another. Since the liberation of the whole country, many new idioms with positive significance have been produced in the practice of class struggle, production struggle and scientific experiment, such as:
Bring forth the old and bring forth the new, as quickly as possible.
Every minute counts, strive for the upper reaches, and let a hundred flowers blossom.
Manage the family diligently, repair the old and use the waste to go to the countryside
Study hard and practice hard, and seize the day to turn waste into treasure.
The next game of chess can help the whole country more than studying.
Wait a minute. At the same time, a small number of critical new idioms have emerged, such as "timid" and "delaying and paying less". This kind of new idioms has a distinct spirit of the times and positive significance. Therefore, after it was produced, it immediately spread like a raging fire and was loved by the broad masses of people at all levels.
The ten items listed above are the main sources of idioms and the larger categories of idioms.