4 characters Idiom and proverb 5 641

Learning Chinese grows from characters to words and then idioms. We’ve created free tools to help you master idioms like 「半青半黃」, explained here.

Our focus this time is on the idiom 「半青半黃」. You’ll find its definition and examples below.

The crops have not yet grown, and the green is changing to the yellow. Metaphorically, the time is not yet ripe.

The Mandarin pronunciation of this idiom is :

bàn qīng bàn huáng

while its Cantonese pinyin is :

bun3 ching1/cheng1 bun3 wong4

With so many Chinese idioms, each holding diverse meanings and uses, there is much to explore. These materials are designed to support your Chinese language studies.