Idioms Index

 

120 Chinese Idioms Celebration Office Party

All bluster, no substance – 有色无胆

Ant fights, snail contends – 蚁斗蜗争

As a lotus flower breaking the surface – 出水芙蓉

As cold as ice and frost – 冷若冰霜

As if walking on thin ice – 如履薄冰

As lithe as a swallow – 身轻如燕

As the water recedes, the rocks appear – 水落石出

Assess the head and discuss the feet – 评头论足

Beautiful woman, source of calamity – 红颜祸水

Before the first wave subsides, a new wave rises – 一波未平，一波又起

Bird Startled by a Bowshot – 惊弓之鸟

Call the grapes sour – 说葡萄酸

Call the wind and summon the rain – 呼风唤雨

Cannon fire to hit a mosquito – 大炮打蚊子

Climb a tree to catch fish – 缘木求鱼

Compassion, duty, propriety and integrity – 仁义道德

Conjure up Clouds with One Turn of One’s Hand and Rain with Another – 翻云覆雨

Consider everyone beneath one’s notice – 目中无人

Cool breeze and bright moon – 清风明月

Cup of water to put out a cartload of firewood – 杯水车薪

Deck the tree with blossoms (树上开花)

Dodge a pit only to fall into a well – 避坑落井

Dog who catches mice – 狗逮老鼠

Dragonfly touches the water lightly – 蜻蜓点水

Drunken gentleman’s desire is not about the wine – 醉翁之意不酒

Eye cannot bear to see it – 目不忍见

Eye incites, heart invites – 目挑心招

Eyes and Eyebrows Come and Go (眉来眼去)

Fairy is willing, but King Xiang doesn’t dream – 神女有心，襄王无梦

Fight minutes, snatch seconds – 争分夺秒

Fight tiger bare handed and wade rivers – 暴虎冯河

Fight with one’s back to the river – 背水一战

Fire burns one’s eyebrows – 火烧眉毛 (Chinese Idiom)

Fire in the city gates, a calamity for the fish in the moat (城门失火，殃及池鱼)

First decapitate then present your trophy – 先斩后奏

Flowery of Fist with Fancy Footwork – 花拳绣腿

Fox’s tail – 狐狸尾巴

Foxes, ghosts and immortals – 狐鬼神仙,

Ghostly moaning and howling – 鬼哭神号

Ghosts are afraid of evil too – 鬼怕恶人

Ghoulies and Bogeys – 魍魉鬼怪

Gold and jade on the outside, rot and decay on the inside – 金玉其外，败絮其中

Green hills and clear waters – 青山绿水

Have three heads and six arms – 三头六臂

Heart flower in full bloom – 心花怒放

Heart like still water – 心如止水

Heroes of the common people – 草泽英雄

Heroism reaching to the sky – 豪气干云

Hide by day and come out at night – 昼伏夜出

Hitching a ride on the dragon and phoenix – 扳龙附凤

Honest advice grates on the ear – 忠言逆耳

Invert root and branch – 本末倒置

Iron tree blooms – 铁树开花

Kill a chicken in front of a monkey – 杀鸡给猴看

Kite with cut string – 断线风筝

Leap the house and cross the roofridge – 蹿房越脊

Like a little bird relying on people – 小鸟依人

Live High and Look Down – 居高临下

Lone flower admiring itself – 孤芳自赏

Love at first sight – 一见倾心

Making a deer out to be a horse – 指鹿为马

Mistakenly board a pirate ship (误上贼船)

Mountains of daggers and seas of flames – 刀山火海

Mouth producing flowery talk – 口吐莲花

Mouth spewing poison flames – 口吐毒焰

Near vermilion, one gets stained pink, near ink, one gets stained black – 近朱者赤，近墨者黑

Open the door and see the mountain – 开门见山

Paint a dragon and add in the eyes – 画龙点睛

Paint legs on a snake – 画蛇添足

Painting a tiger like a dog – 画虎类狗

Pavilion in the Air – 空中楼阁

Play the lute to a cow – 对牛弹琴

Pluck a pearl from the black dragon – 探骊得珠

Poultry and dogs rise to heaven – 鸡犬升天

Precarious as a Pile of Eggs – 危如累卵

Pull on a shoot to help it grow – 拔苗助长

Raise and lower one’s hand – 上下其手

Rather be a chicken’s head than a phoenix’s tail – 宁做鸡头，不做凤尾

Ravenous Wolves hold the road – 豺狼当路

Real Face Fully Revealed – 真相毕露

Red Flies, Emerald Green Dances – 红飞翠舞

Reining in a horse at the edge of a cliff – 悬崖勒马

Run around here and there – 东奔西走

Scholar buys a donkey – 博士买驴

Scholars tend to disparage one another – 文人相轻

Sense of propriety, justice, integrity and honour – 礼义廉耻

Share the same bed with different dreams – 同床异梦

Shattered mirror put back together – 破镜重圆

Sheep enters the tiger’s den – 羊入虎口

Sheep in a Tiger’s Skin – 羊质虎皮

Sheep joins a wolf pack – 羊入狼群

Silvery Spear Point Actually Made of Pewter – 银样镴枪头

Single Sail, Gentle Wind – 一帆风顺

Sitting At Ease In A Fishing Boat Despite Storms – 稳坐钓鱼台

Sky and earth turning upside down – 翻天覆地

Sky Spins, Earth Goes Round – 天旋地转

Soul flies away and scatters – 魂飞魄散

Sour, sweet, bitter and spicy – 酸甜苦辣

Spirit and soul upside down – 神魂颠倒

Spirit reaches to the rainbow – 气贯长虹

Spread your wings and soar – 展翅高飞

Steal the sky and change the sun – 偷天换日

Stuck together as by glue – 如胶似漆

Summon Demons to create Havoc – 兴妖作怪

Sword moves like a dragonfly – 剑走蜻蛉

Ten sheep, nine shepherds – 十羊九牧

The head of the spirit dragon is visible, not its tail – 神龙见首不见尾

Three men make a tiger – 三人成虎

Throw stones at somebody who fell down a well – 投井下石)

Thunder from a clear sky – 晴天霹雳

Tiger’s head, snake’s tail – 虎头蛇尾

Trade a fur coat for a glass of wine – 貂裘换酒

Treasure Sword Does not Age – 宝刀不老

Two-faced, three knives – 两面三刀

Virtue is one foot tall, the devil ten foot – 道高一尺，魔高一丈

Wind, Flowers, Snow, and the Moon – 风花雪月

Wine, sex, avarice and temper – 酒色财气

Wolves howl, ghosts weep – 狼号鬼哭

Wool Comes from the Sheep’s Back – 毛出在羊身上

Zhuangzi dreams of a butterfly – 庄周梦蝶

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