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臭名远扬

臭名遠揚
chòumíngyuǎnyáng
idiom #31,902

Meanings

  1. 1 notorious far and wide
  2. 2 to have a stinking reputation that spreads far

Examples

这个黑帮老大臭名远扬，没人敢惹他。
Zhège hēibāng lǎodà chòumíngyuǎnyáng, méi rén gǎn rě tā.
This mob boss is notorious far and wide; no one dares cross him.
他因贪污受贿臭名远扬。
Tā yīn tānwū shòuhuì chòumíngyuǎnyáng.
He is infamous everywhere for taking bribes.

Tips

usage
Strongly negative — only for genuine villains or scandals. Compare the antonym 名扬天下 (míngyáng-tiānxià, "famous throughout the land"), which is purely positive, and 闻名遐迩 (wénmíngxiá'ěr, "known both far and near"), which is neutral-positive. Don't use 臭名远扬 sarcastically about a famous person you respect.
memory
Literally "stink + name + far + spread" — picture the bad reputation as an actual smell drifting downwind across the whole country. The four characters are easy to chunk if you remember 臭名 = bad reputation, 远扬 = spreads far.

Stroke Order

臭 chòu
名 míng
远 yuǎn
扬 yáng