鹏程万里 (péng chéng wàn lǐ) — (idiom) to have a brilliant future; great prosp…

Definition

A formal chengyu meaning 'a brilliant future with limitless prospects' — used to wish someone great success, often in speeches or toasts.

idiom

to have a brilliant futuregreat prospects

Examples

鹏程万里，！
Zhù nǐ qián chéng péng chéng wàn lǐ, yí qiè shùn lì!
Wishing you a brilliant future and all the best!
，鹏程万里。
Tā nián jì qīng qīng jiù yǐ jīng shì yè yǒu chéng, wèi lái zhēn shì péng chéng wàn lǐ.
He's already successful at such a young age — his future is truly bright.
，鹏程万里。
Zhè ge chuàng yè xiàng mù qián jǐng guǎng kuò, kě wèi péng chéng wàn lǐ.
This startup project has broad prospects — one could call it a soaring future.

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.

鹏程roc's journey

鹏péngroc程chéngjourney

偏正Modifier + head

万里ten thousand li

万wànten thousand里lǐli

偏正Modifier + head

The roc's journey spans ten thousand li, suggesting a brilliant future with vast prospects.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 鵬; 鹏 is its simplified writing.

朋鳥鵬

Meaning part形符xíngfú

鳥鳥niǎobird

Sound part声符shēngfú

朋

朋péng鵬péng

Same sound today

The traditional form 鵬 pairs 朋 (sound) with 鳥 (bird); the simplified 鹏 is a later shorthand.

Open 鹏 →

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

禾呈程

Meaning part形符xíngfú

禾禾hégrain

Sound part声符shēngfú

呈

呈chéng程chéng

Same sound today

程 is made from 禾 (grain) and 呈 (pronounced chéng); the evidence gives measurements.

Open 程 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 萬; 万 is its simplified writing.

For 万, the form 萬 was originally a picture of a scorpion, later borrowed for its sound to write 'ten thousand'; the scorpion picture is unrelated to that number.

Open 万 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 裡; 里 is its simplified writing.

The simplified 里 stands for more than one traditional character. In most words (里, 里面) it is 裡; in others (公里) it is 里 or 裏.

衤里裡

Meaning part形符xíngfú

衤Written in full as衣yīclothes

Sound part声符shēngfú

里

里lǐ裡lǐ

Same sound today

The form 裡 pairs 衤 (clothes) with 里 as a sound component.