From basics to advanced idioms, Chinese study culminates with phrases like 「先意承旨」. Explore their meaning and use in this free guide.
Our focus this time is on the idiom 「先意承旨」. You’ll find its definition and examples below.
Anticipate one’s intention: think of it first; obey the will: follow the will of the emperor. Originally it meant to do something to please your parents without waiting for them to ask. The latter refers to guessing the intentions of superiors and flattering them as much as possible.
The Mandarin pronunciation of this idiom is :
xiān yì chéng zhǐ
while its Cantonese pinyin is :
sin1 yi3 sing4 ji2
There are a countless number of Chinese idioms, each with unique meanings and applications. We’ve provided these resources to help guide you as you dive deeper into learning Chinese.
