巧舌如簧 (qiǎo shé rú huáng) — (idiom) glib tongue; honey-tongued; to be speci… | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

A negative, written-style idiom for someone whose smooth, persuasive speech sounds good but is insincere — like 'honey-tongued' or 'silver-tongued' used as a criticism, not a compliment.

idiom

glib tonguehoney-tonguedto be specious and persuasive

Examples

巧舌如簧，。
Bié kàn tā qiǎo shé rú huáng, qí shí shuō de quán shì kōng huà.
Don't be fooled by his glib tongue; everything he says is empty talk.
巧舌如簧，。
Tuī xiāo yuán qiǎo shé rú huáng, dàn wǒ hái shì méi mǎi tā de chǎn pǐn.
The salesman was smooth-talking, but I still didn't buy his product.
巧舌如簧，。
Zhèng kè men qiǎo shé rú huáng, xuǎn mín men yuè lái yuè bú xìn rèn tā men.
Politicians are glib-tongued, and voters trust them less and less.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

主谓zhǔwèiSubject + predicate

A small sentence frozen into a word: something, and what it does or is.

巧舌clever tongue

巧qiǎoclever舌shétongue

偏正Modifier + head

如簧like a reed

如rúlike簧huángreed

动宾Verb + object

巧舌 means clever tongue and 如簧 means like a reed, so the phrase describes glib speech.

Characters in this word

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

工丂巧

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

丂

丂kǎo巧qiǎo

Same sound today

巧 is made of 工 and 丂; 工 points to its meaning, and 丂 points to its sound.

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.

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

女口如

Meaning part形符xíngfú

口口kǒumouth

Sound part声符shēngfú

女

女nǚ如rú

Same sound today

如 is built from 口 (mouth) for its meaning and 女 (woman) for its sound.

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

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