此起彼伏

cǐqǐ-bǐfú

idiom HSK 7-9 #47,728

Meanings

1 one after another; rising and falling in succession
2 one subsides as another rises

Characters

to fall; to lie low

This one rises (此起), that one falls (彼伏) - a continuous, wave-like pattern of things happening in succession.

Examples

HSK 3

山间的鸟叫声此起彼伏。

Shānjiān de niǎo jiàoshēng cǐqǐ-bǐfú.

Birdsong echoed back and forth among the mountains.

HSK 5

掌声此起彼伏。

Zhǎngshēng cǐqǐ-bǐfú.

Applause rose and fell in waves.

Tips

usage

此起彼伏 vividly describes sounds (applause, waves, gunfire), events (protests, conflicts), or any phenomena that overlap in a continuous wave pattern. It's a very common idiom in written Chinese, especially in news and literature.

Stroke Order

此 cǐ

起 qǐ

彼 bǐ

伏 fú