四壁 (sì bì) — the four walls (of a room); often used in literary expressions or idioms to evoke emptiness or poverty

Definition

Literary word for 'the four walls' of a room, almost always used in set phrases like 家徒四壁 to evoke emptiness or poverty. Don't use it for ordinary talk about a room's walls.

noun
the four walls (of a room)often used in literary expressions or idioms to evoke emptiness or poverty

Examples

  • 四壁。
    Zhè ge fáng jiān de sì bì shuā chéng le bái sè.
    The four walls of this room are painted white.
  • 四壁，。
    Tā jiā tú sì bì, shén me dōu méi yǒu.
    His family has nothing but four walls — they are extremely poor.
  • 四壁。
    Zhǎn lǎn tīng de sì bì guà mǎn le huà.
    The four walls of the exhibition hall are hung with paintings.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

四sìfour
壁bìwall

The sense of 四 as four and 壁 as wall gives the four walls of a room.

Characters in this word

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

The form 四 was drawn as a nose breathing out. It later came to be used for the word four.

Open 四 →

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

Meaning part形符xíngfú
土土tǔearth
Sound part声符shēngfú
辟
辟pì壁bì
Same sound today

壁 combines 土 (earth) and 辟, which gives the sound. The whole means an earthen wall.

Open 壁 →

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