七嘴八舌 (qī zuǐ bā shé) — everybody talking at once; lively discussion wi… | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

A chengyu for a scene where everyone speaks at once — many mouths, many tongues. Used to describe lively group discussion, not a single voice.

phrase

everybody talking at oncelively discussion with everyone chiming in

Examples

七嘴八舌。
Dà jiā jù zài yì qǐ qī zuǐ bā shé dì tǎo lùn zhe jià qī jì huà.
Everyone gathered together and discussed the holiday plans, all talking at once.
，七嘴八舌。
Tā gāng shuō wán, qí tā rén jiù qī zuǐ bā shé dì wèn gè bù tíng.
As soon as he finished speaking, the others bombarded him with questions, all talking at once.
，七嘴八舌，。
Jiā lǐ lái le kè rén, qì fen qī zuǐ bā shé, rè nao fēi fán.
When guests came to the house, the atmosphere was full of animated chatter, extremely lively.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

七嘴seven mouths

七qīseven嘴zuǐmouth

偏正Modifier + head

八舌eight tongues

八bāeight舌shétongue

偏正Modifier + head

七嘴 and 八舌 picture many mouths and tongues all speaking at once.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape of 七 comes from two crossing lines: the top line runs left to right, and the next line goes down and across.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

口觜嘴

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

觜

觜zī嘴

Same sound today

嘴 pairs 口 (mouth) with 觜, which supplies its sound.

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

八 shows two bent lines, indicating the original meaning 'to divide'; it was later used for 'eight' because the words sounded alike.

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

舌 was drawn as a snake's forked tongue rising from an open mouth.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 7-9

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