万里无云 (wàn lǐ wú yún) — (idiom) cloudless, clear and boundless sky

Definition

A vivid set phrase (chengyu) used in writing to describe a vast, completely cloudless sky — stronger and more literary than just saying 晴 (clear).

idiom
cloudlessclear and boundless sky

Examples

  • 万里无云,。
    Jīn tiān wàn lǐ wú yún, shì gè chū qù wán r de hǎo rì zi.
    Today the sky is perfectly clear — it's a great day to go out and have fun.
  • 万里无云,。
    wàn lǐ wú yún De tiān kōng xià, wǒ men kāi chē qù le hǎi biān.
    Under the cloudless sky, we drove to the seaside.
  • ,万里无云,。
    Tā tái tóu yí kàn, wàn lǐ wú yún, xīn qíng dùn shí hǎo le qǐ lái.
    He looked up and saw a perfectly clear sky — his mood immediately lifted.

Origin

Characters in this word

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.

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.

Open 里 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 無; 无 is its simplified writing.

For the simplified 无, the story is about 無. 無 drew a person dancing with ox tails held in both hands to pray for rain, then was borrowed for 'have no', so the picture does not explain that meaning.

Open 无 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 雲; 云 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 雲 is 雨 (rain) plus 云; 云 was the original writing for 'cloud', and 雨 was added to separate it from the borrowed sense 'to say'.

Open 云 →

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