8 Chinese Idioms With the Number Nine (九)
Chinese idioms featuring the auspicious number nine - expressions of longevity, abundance, and imperial power.
Nine is one of the most auspicious numbers in Chinese culture, associated with the emperor, longevity, and eternity. These idioms harness its powerful symbolism of abundance and permanence.
一言九鼎
yī yán jiǔ dǐngWords carry great weight
Literal: Words heavy as nine cauldrons
The nine bronze cauldrons cast by Yu were the physical emblem of the mandate, passed from dynasty to dynasty and impossibly heavy. The Records of the Grand Historian gives the phrase its setting: after Mao Sui talked Chu into an alliance, the Lord of Pingyuan said that Mao's single visit had made Zh...
Example
The CEO's brief statement immediately restored investor confidence
CEO简短的声明立即恢复了投资者的信心
十有八九
shí yǒu bā jiǔVery high probability at about 80-90 percent
Literal: Ten has eight nine
Of ten (十), there are (有) eight (八) or nine (九). Its usefulness is that it names an honest degree of confidence — high but not asserted as certain. Speech is full of it, where English would say nine times out of ten, and it is one of the more useful things a learner can pick up, because it fits almo...
Example
The meteorologist predicted that rain was very likely for the weekend festival
气象学家预测周末节日很可能下雨
九牛一毛
jiǔ niú yī máoA drop in the bucket; negligible amount
Literal: One hair from nine oxen
Writing to Ren An, Sima Qian said that had he submitted to the law and been executed, it would have been the loss of a single (一) hair (毛) from nine (九) oxen (牛), no different from the death of an ant. He is explaining why he accepted castration instead: a clean death would have bought nothing, beca...
Example
Losing that small investment was just one hair from nine oxen compared to his total wealth.
损失那点小投资对他的总财富来说不过是九牛一毛。
一诺千金
yī nuò qiān jīnKeep promises faithfully
Literal: One promise thousand gold
Ji Bu of the early Han was reliable enough that a saying circulated in Chu: a hundred catties of gold are worth less than one promise (一诺) from Ji Bu — hence a promise worth a thousand (千) in gold (金). The Records of the Grand Historian preserves it. He is not Ji Zha of Wu, whose story about keeping...
Example
Despite better offers, she honored her original commitment to the client
尽管有更好的机会，她仍然信守对客户的承诺
千锤百炼
qiān chuí bǎi liànPerfected through repeated refinement
Literal: Thousand hammers hundred forges
A thousand (千) hammer blows (锤) and a hundred (百) temperings (炼). The metallurgy is real: folded steel is worked and reheated repeatedly, each cycle driving out impurities, and the count is what distinguishes a blade from a bar of iron. Writing takes it above all, where the sense is rewriting rather...
Example
The final manuscript reflected years of writing, editing, and refinement
最终的手稿反映了多年的写作、编辑和改进
千变万化
qiān biàn wàn huàEver-changing; constantly varying
Literal: Thousand changes ten thousand transformations
A thousand (千) changes (变) and ten thousand (万) transformations (化). The numbers are conventional rather than counted, and the two verbs are not synonyms: 变 is change in state or appearance, 化 is change into something else entirely, so the pair covers alteration and transmutation together. That is w...
Example
The stock market's constant fluctuations are hard to predict.
股市千变万化，难以预测。
百年大计
bǎi nián dà jìLong-term plan; matter of lasting importance
Literal: Hundred-year great plan
A plan (计) reaching a hundred (百) years (年), on the largest (大) scale. 百年 is conventional rather than counted — Chinese uses it for any span longer than a life — so what the phrase claims is a horizon beyond the reach of the people making the decision, which is exactly the argument hardest to win. I...
Example
Education is a long-term investment in the nation's future.
教育是国家的百年大计。
千里迢迢
qiān lǐ tiáo tiáoTravel a great distance
Literal: A thousand miles distant
A thousand (千) li (里), with 迢迢 for the distance — a character meaning far which, doubled, means far in a way that is felt. The reduplication is the whole difference: 千里 alone states a measurement, and 千里迢迢 says somebody crossed it. That is why the phrase almost always travels with a person rather th...
Example
She traveled from far away to attend her friend's wedding.
她千里迢迢赶来参加朋友的婚礼。
Quick Reference
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