Quadrisyllabic Expressions

Probably as a consequence of the predominance of disyllabic forms, Chinese has a huge number of fixed expressions with four syllables. The patterns for the formation of these expressions are astoundingly varied. Synonyms/synonymous morphemes and antonyms/antonymous morphemes are conjoined or interweaved with numbers, directional morphemes and reduplicated elements to create many different types.

What are synonyms? They are words having similar or identical meanings.

What are antonyms? They are words having contradictory or contrary meanings. Right and wrong are contradictory, because if it is not right then it is wrong; but big and small are contrary to each other, because something can be neither big nor small.

Directional morphemes represent the four directions: east, west, south, north, up, down, to here, to there,

Reduplication refers to the repeating of syllables in a contiguous fashion: So AàAA, ABàAABB/ABAB.

What is conjoining? It is the simple juxtaposition of two compounds. If AB is a two-morpheme compound, CD is another two-morpheme compound, the conjoining of these two compounds with give us ABCD or CDAB.

What is interweaving? Well, that is more intricate. If AB is a two-morpheme compound and CD is another two-morpheme compound, the interweaving of these two compounds will give us ACBD or CADB. It is hard to imagine anything like that happening in English.

With so many variables in the construction of quadri-syllabic expressions, it is small wonder that many different types are expected. What follow are some of the commonly encountered types:

1. numbers interweaved with a synonymous pair:

yiganerjing	1 dry 2 clean	completely gone
sipingbawen	4 level 8 stable	even and steady
wuyanliuse	5 co(lor)- 6 (co)lor	colorful
luanqibazao	chaos 7 8 mess	total mess

2. numbers interweaved with an antonymous pair:

qishangbaxia	7 up 8 down	very nervous
yipushihan	1 sunned 10 cold	no perseverance
sanchangliangduan	3 long 2 short	unforeseen death/illness
jiusiyisheng	9 die 1 live	Difficult survival

3. direction interweaved with a synonymous pair:

nanqiangbeidiao	south accent north tone	speak with mixed accent
dongbenxizou	east run west run	running around
dongzhangxiwang	east look west look	looking around

4. direction interweaved with an antonymous pair:

nanlaibeiwang

south come north go

to and fro

5. two synonymous pairs interweaved:

cuxindayi	thick heart big intent	careless
huayanqiaoyu	flower word fine speech	sweet talk
youqianghuadiao	oil accent slippery tone	Glib/smooth talking

6. two antonymous pairs interweaved:

datongxiaoyi	big same small different	basically the same
koushixinfei	mouth yes heart no	duplicitous
yangfengyinwei	open obey hidden disobey	duplicitous

7. two synonyms conjoined:

jiaoaoziman	proud haughty self full	full of oneself
jiannankunku	hard difficult difficult hard	hard and difficult
puzhanglangfei	spread open willful waste	wasteful

8. a synonymous pair interweaved with an antonymous pair:

dajingxiaoguai	big surprise small surprise	big deal out of nothing
shenglisibie	live apart die farewell	life and death trauma
tonggangongku	same sweet share bitter	through thick and thin

9. reduplication interweaved with a synonymous pair:

quanxinquanyi	whole heart whole intent	whole-heartedly
chengwangchengba	call king call ruler	make self the ruler
dachaidaxie	big take-apart big dismantle	tear apart in a big way

10. reduplication interweaved with an antonymous pair:

zishengzimie	self live self perish	fending for oneself
bupobuli	not break not establish	destroy old to build new
hequhecong	where go where come	make your decision!

11. reduplication interweaved with numbers:

busanbusi

not 3 not 4

of questionable character