大千世界

dàqiānshìjiè
idiom #35,536

Meanings

  1. 1 the vast universe of phenomena
  2. 2 the wide, endlessly varied world
  3. 3 (Buddhism) the great chiliocosm

Examples

Dàqiānshìjiè, wú qí bù yǒu.
In this vast world, nothing is too strange to exist.
Lǚxíng ràng wǒ jiànshi dào le dàqiānshìjiè de jīngcǎi.
Traveling let me glimpse the wonders of the wide world.
Dàqiānshìjiè, gè zhǒng gè yàng de rén dōu yǒu.
In this vast world, there are people of every kind.

Tips

culture
Originally Buddhist cosmology: 1,000 'small worlds' form a 世界, 1,000 of those form a 世界, and 1,000 of those form a 大千世界 — hence the Chinese term 三千大千世界. Now used secularly to mean simply 'the wide, varied world.'
usage
Almost always paired with an observation about variety or strangeness — classic collocation: 大千世界无奇不有 ('in this wide world, nothing is too weird to exist').

Stroke Order

qiān
shì
jiè