A Comparative Study of the Origin and Structural Features of Chinese and English Idioms

Idiom is an expression in the usage of a language that is peculiar to itself either grammatically or in having a meaning that cannot be derived from the conjoined meanings of its elements (Merriam-Webster). Idioms are the sediment of their societies and culture. Concise is the main characteristic of idioms. Because of the loan of culture, idioms can express a large amount of meanings by a few words. Idioms come from all aspects of human life. The delicate and compact structure gives birth to the idioms which express the meaning beyond the literal one. Different types of life produce different types of culture; in return, different cultures produce different idioms. Both Chinese and English cultures have brought up a large number of idioms. They share some things in common and they also obtain some differences.