Progressing from characters to words and idioms marks advanced Chinese. This guide freely explains 「涇渭分明」 for your learning.
This time, our spotlight is on the idiom 「涇渭分明」. Its meaning and how it’s applied are described below.
The water of the Jing River is clear, while the water of the Wei River is muddy. When the water of the Jing River flows into the Wei River, the clear and muddy water do not mix. A metaphor for clear boundaries or right and wrong.
The Mandarin pronunciation of this idiom is :
jīng wèi fèn míng
while its Cantonese pinyin is :
ging1 wai6 fan1 ming4
Chinese idioms encompass an enormous variety, each rich in its meanings and uses. We’ve compiled these resources to support your efforts in learning the language.
