Chinese begins with basics like characters, builds up to words, and reaches idioms. This free resource introduces advanced idioms like 「烏煙瘴氣」, with details below.
This time, our spotlight is on the idiom 「烏煙瘴氣」. Its meaning and how it’s applied are described below.
Black smoke: black smoke; miasma: a kind of hot and humid air in tropical forests, which was believed to be the cause of miasma in the old days. It is a metaphor for a noisy environment, chaotic order or dark society.
The Mandarin pronunciation of this idiom is :
wū yān zhàng qì
while its Cantonese pinyin is :
wu1 yin1 jeung3 hei3
There are countless Chinese idioms, all rich in meaning and application. Each one is unique, and we hope this information helps you explore and enhance your Chinese language knowledge.
