四大美女

sì dà měinǚ
noun

Meanings

  1. 1 the Four Great Beauties of ancient China
  2. 2 the four legendary beauties: Xi Shi, Wang Zhaojun, Diaochan, and Yang Guifei

Examples

HSK 4
Tā bèi chēngwéi xiàoyuán sì dà měinǚ zhīyī.
She's called one of the school's 'Four Great Beauties'.
HSK 7-9
Zhōngguó gǔdài sì dà měinǚ jiāyùhùxiǎo.
The Four Great Beauties of ancient China are known in every household.

Tips

culture
The canonical four are: 西施 (Xi Shi, Spring & Autumn period - 'sinking fish'); 王昭君 (Wang Zhaojun, Western Han - 'alighting goose'); 貂蝉 (Diaochan, late Han - 'moon hiding'); 杨贵妃 (Yang Guifei, Tang - 'shaming flowers'). Each maps to one element of the 沉鱼落雁闭月羞花 couplet.
usage
In modern Chinese, any office or campus with four stand-out attractive women will jokingly rank them as the 美女 of that context - the phrase is very productive for this kind of playful list.

Stroke Order

měi