Xiehouyu
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Xiehouyu (Chinese: 歇後語 "a saying with the latter-part suspended") is a kind of Chinese proverb in the form of a riddle. A xiehouyu consists of two parts: the first part is the riddle part and the second the answer. One would often only state the first part, expecting the listener to know the second. Pun is only involved in a xiehouyu, thus a xiehouyu in one dialect can be unintelligible to a listener speaking another. Valuable linguistic data can sometimes be gleaned from ancient xiehouyu.
[edit] Example
- 外甥打燈籠──照舅 (舊)
- pinyin: wàishēng dǎ dēnglóng──zhào jiù (jiù)
- word-for-word translation: nephew handling [a] lantern - illuminating/according to [his] uncle ([the] old [way])
- Meaning: as usual, as before
- Note: 舅 and 舊 are a pair of homophones, and 照 means "according to" as well as "to illuminate"
[edit] References
- Rohsenow, John Snowden. A Chinese-English dictionary of enigmatic folk similes (xiēhòuyǔ). Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1991.
- Zhongguo Da Baike Quanshu (中国大百科全书 "Encyclopedia of China"), first edition, 1980-1993.
