CHENGYU
七嘴八舌(qī zuǐ bā shé)meaning, story and origin
- Register:
- neutral
- Source:
- 清·袁枚《牍外余言》
MEANING
- Literal
- seven mouths and eight tongues
- Figurative meaning
- everyone talking at once; a babble of voices
ORIGIN STORY
The Qing scholar Yuan Mei wrote of "seven mouths and eight tongues, each mocking coldly" — a crowd where every voice speaks at once and nobody agrees.
NATURAL EQUIVALENT
“a chorus of voices”
EXAMPLES
大家七嘴八舌地讨论，谁也听不清。Dàjiā qī zuǐ bā shé de tǎolùn, shéi yě tīng bù qīng.HSK6
Everyone talks at once — nobody can make anything out.
一进门，孩子们就七嘴八舌地说起话来。Yí jìn mén, háizimen jiù qī zuǐ bā shé de shuō qǐ huà lái.HSK6
The moment we entered, the kids began chattering all at once.
COMMON MISTAKE
Watch out: It is many people speaking at the same time — not one person talking a lot.
CHARACTER BREAKDOWN
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TRUST & SOURCES
- Reviewed by
- AI-assisted editorial review
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-15
- CC-CEDICT 2026-01-01