Xiehouyu

Xiehouyu (simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Wade–Giles: hsieh¹-hou⁴-yü³; literally: "a saying with the latter-part suspended") is a kind of consisting of two elements: the former segment presents a novel scenario while the latter provides the rationale thereof. One would often only state the first part, expecting the listener to know the second. Compare English " (saves nine)" or " (is worth two in the bush)".

Pun is sometimes invoked in a xiehouyu. In this case the second part is derived from the first through one meaning, but then another possible meaning of the second part is taken as the true meaning. To create examples in English, one can say "get hospitalized" to mean "be patient", or "small transactions only" to mean "no big deal". Thus a xiehouyu in one dialect can be unintelligible to a listener speaking another. Valuable linguistic data can sometimes be gleaned from ancient xiehouyu.

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