四大美女

sìdàměinǚ
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

Zhōngguó gǔdài sì dà měinǚ jiāyùhùxiǎo.
The Four Great Beauties of ancient China are known in every household.
Tā bèi chēngwéi xiàoyuán sì dà měinǚ zhī yī.
She's called one of the school's 'Four Great Beauties'.

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 四大美女 of that context — the phrase is very productive for this kind of playful list.

Stroke Order

měi