司空见惯
司空见惯 (sī kōng jiàn guàn) literally means “minister of works sees it habitually” and expresses “so common as to attract no attention”. This idiom is used when describing situations involving life philosophy.
Also searched as: si kong jian guan, si kong jian guan,司空见惯 meaning, 司空见惯 in english
So common as to attract no attention
Pronunciation: sī kōng jiàn guàn Literal meaning: Minister of Works sees it habitually
Origin & Usage
Liu Yuxi, back in the capital after his provincial posting, was entertained at the house of Li Shen, himself lately relieved of a regional command; singing girls performed, and Liu wrote a poem on the spot: sights like this are ordinary to a Minister of Works (司空), and they break the heart of a mere provincial governor. The self-deprecation is the joke, and 司空见惯 — what the Minister of Works has seen (见) often enough to be used to (惯) — became the phrase. What it names is whatever has stopped registering because it is always there, and the flatness of the delivery is usually the point.
Examples
English: "Traffic jams have become so common that no one complains anymore."
Chinese: 交通堵塞已经司空见惯，没人再抱怨了。
Related Chinese Idioms
Similar idioms about life philosophy
大同小异
dà tóng xiǎo yì
Essentially the same with minor differences
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海阔天空
hǎi kuò tiān kōng
Unbounded scope; or talk that rambles everywhere
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天马行空
tiān mǎ xíng kōng
Unrestrained creativity
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长话短说
cháng huà duǎn shuō
Make a long story short
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道听途说
dào tīng tú shuō
Unreliable information from casual hearsay
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拐弯抹角
guǎi wān mò jiǎo
Speak or act in deliberately indirect manner
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名副其实
míng fù qí shí
Living up to one's name or reputation
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轻而易举
qīng ér yì jǔ
Easy; effortless
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Frequently Asked Questions
What does 司空见惯 mean in English?
司空见惯 (sī kōng jiàn guàn) literally translates to “Minister of Works sees it habitually” and is used to express “So common as to attract no attention”. This Chinese idiom belongs to the Life Philosophy category.
When is 司空见惯 used?
Situation: Traffic jams have become so common that no one complains anymore.
What is the pinyin for 司空见惯?
The pinyin pronunciation for 司空见惯 is “sī kōng jiàn guàn”.