King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Chinese symbol for “idiom”

成语
chéng yǔ
Traditional: 成語
Chinese set expression, typically of 4 characters, often alluding to a story or historical quotation; idiom; proverb; saying; adage; 条 (tiáo),本 (běn),句 (jù)

The closest CC-CEDICT match for idiom is 成语 (chéng yǔ), defined as: Chinese set expression, typically of 4 characters, often alluding to a story or historical quotation; idiom; proverb; saying; adage; 条 (tiáo),本 (běn),句 (jù).

Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.

Characters and stroke order

成 chéng
to accomplish; to become; to complete, to finish; to succeed
radical 62 ⼽ · 7 strokes
语 yǔ
words, language; saying, expression
radical 149 ⾔ · 9 strokes

Traditional forms

Other Chinese words for “idiom”

WordPinyinMeaning
熟语 (熟語)shú yǔidiom
习惯用语 (習慣用語)xí guàn yòng yǔidiom; idiomatic expression
习惯用法 (習慣用法)xí guàn yòng fǎidiom
习语 (習語)xí yǔcommon saying; idiom
惯用语 (慣用語)guàn yòng yǔcommonly used phrase; idiom

Related words

Other words that share a character with 成语.

WordPinyinMeaning
成为 (成為)chéng wéito become; to turn into
完成wán chéngto complete; to accomplish
成功chéng gōngto succeed; success
成立chéng lìto establish; to set up
造成zào chéngto bring about; to create; to cause
成员 (成員)chéng yuánmember
语言 (語言)yǔ yánlanguage; 门 (mén),种 (zhǒng)
语音 (語音)yǔ yīnspeech sounds; pronunciation

See also: Japanese symbol for “idiom”.

Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3); Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License (graphics.txt); LGPL-3.0-or-later (dictionary.txt)); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.

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