顺风耳 (shùn fēng ěr) — (noun) a well-informed person; someone who knows all the latest gossip or news; (noun) a mythological character in Chinese folklore with supernatural hearing

Definition

From Journey to the West: a mythological figure with supernatural hearing, paired with 千里眼. Colloquially, calling someone a 顺风耳 means they're always in the know.

noun
a well-informed personsomeone who knows all the latest gossip or newsa mythological character in Chinese folklore with supernatural hearing

Examples

  • 《》，顺风耳。
    Zài 《xī yóu jì》 zhōng, shùn fēng ěr hé qiān lǐ yǎn shì yí duì xiōng dì.
    In Journey to the West, the Wind-Listening Ear and the Thousand-Li Eye are a pair of brothers.
  • 顺风耳，。
    Tā zhēn shì gè shùn fēng ěr, shén me xiāo xi dōu zhī dào.
    He really is a well-informed person; he knows all the news.
  • ，顺风耳。
    Gǔ dài chuán shuō zhōng, shùn fēng ěr néng tīng dào qiān lǐ zhī wài de shēng yīn.
    In ancient legends, the Wind-Listening Ear could hear sounds from a thousand miles away.

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.

顺风favorable wind
顺shùnfavorable风fēngwind
偏正Modifier + head
耳ěrear

顺风 suggests a favorable wind and 耳 suggests hearing, so this names an ear that catches sounds carried by the wind.

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 順; 顺 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
頁頁yè
Sound part声符shēngfú
川
川chuān順shùn
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 順 pairs 川 (river), which gives the sound, with 頁 (head); the picture is a head in a river, following the current. The simplified 顺 is a shorthand.

Open 顺 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 风 →

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

耳 is drawn as a picture of an ear.

Open 耳 →

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