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天方夜谭 (tiān fāng yè tán) — Arabian Nights (the story collection); absurd story; far-fetched tale; highly suspect account

Definition

A chengyu that literally names the Arabian Nights but is used almost entirely today to mean a 'far-fetched, unbelievable story' — like English 'a tall tale.'

noun
Arabian Nights (the story collection)absurd storyfar-fetched talehighly suspect account

Examples

  • 天方夜谭。
    tiān fāng yè tán Shì ā lā bó zhù míng de mín jiān gù shi jí.
    The Arabian Nights is a famous collection of Arab folk tales.
  • 天方夜谭，。
    Tā shuō de huà jiǎn zhí jiù shì tiān fāng yè tán, méi rén huì xiāng xìn.
    What he said is just an absurd story — nobody will believe it.
  • 天方夜谭。
    Bié ná zhè zhǒng tiān fāng yè tán lái piàn wǒ le.
    Don't try to fool me with this kind of tall tale.

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.

天方Arabia
天tiānheaven方fāngregion
偏正Modifier + head
夜谭night tales
夜yènight谭tántale
偏正Modifier + head

天方 points to Arabia and 夜谭 to night stories, giving tales from Arabia.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
大大dà
Sound part声符shēngfú
丁
丁dīng天tiān
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The shape comes from a frontal standing man 大 with a head; 天 pairs 大 with 丁 for sound.

Open 天 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 方 →

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
夕夕xīmoon
Sound part声符shēngfú
亦
亦yì夜yè
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The form 夜 pairs 亦 as a sound part with 夕 as a moon part, for night. In the modern shape, the 亦 part is broken up and one stroke merges into 夕.

Open 夜 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 谭 →
Appears in
Idioms & Set PhrasesLiterature & Poetry

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