大煞风景 (dà shà fēng jǐng) — to spoil the fun; to be a wet blanket; to mar a pleasant experience

Definition

A chengyu (set phrase) meaning 'to spoil the fun' — describes an action or event that ruins an otherwise pleasant moment. Used like 'what a killjoy' or 'such a mood-killer' to complain about a wet blanket.

verb
to spoil the funto be a wet blanketto mar a pleasant experience

Examples

  • ，，大煞风景。
    Dà jiā dōu zài gāo xìng dì liáo tiān, tā tū rán shuō qǐ gōng zuò de shì, zhēn dà shà fēng jǐng.
    Everyone was happily chatting, and he suddenly brought up work — what a killjoy.
  • ，，大煞风景。
    Yuán jì huà qù hǎi biān, jié guǒ xià qǐ dà yǔ, zhēn shì dà shà fēng jǐng.
    We planned to go to the beach, but it started pouring — that really spoiled the fun.
  • ，，大煞风景。
    Diàn yǐng zhèng yǎn dào jīng cǎi chù, tū rán tíng diàn le, tài dà shà fēng jǐng le.
    The movie was getting to the best part, and then the power went out — such a mood killer.

Origin

Characters in this word

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

The form 大 is a picture of a person standing and facing forward, not of someone stretching their arms.

Open 大 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 煞 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 风 →

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
日日rìsun
Sound part声符shēngfú
京
京jīng景jǐng
Same sound today

景 has 日 (sun) with 京, which gives its sound; it originally meant sunlight.

Open 景 →

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