冰雪聰明

Chinese

		ice and snow; pure as the driven snow; virtuous, honest, upright, moral, chaste, etc.	clever; intelligent; smart clever; intelligent; smart; bright; sharp; keen; perceptive
trad. (冰雪聰明)		冰雪	聰明
simp. (冰雪聪明)		冰雪	聪明
Literally: “as intelligent as ice and snow”.

Etymology

From a poem by Du Fu:

冰雪淨聰明，雷霆走精銳。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]

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冰雪净聪明，雷霆走精锐。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

From: Tang dynasty, Du Fu, Seeing Off Attendant Censor Fan (23) on his Way to a Post as Administrative Assistant in Hanzhong (《送樊二十三侍御赴漢中判官》), translation by Stephen Owen, The Poetry of Du Fu

Bīngxuě jìng cōngmíng, léitíng zǒu jīngruì. [Pinyin]

Your apprehension is as bright as ice and snow, your military sharpness speeds like thunder.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): bīngxuěcōngmíng

  (Zhuyin): ㄅㄧㄥ ㄒㄩㄝˇ ㄘㄨㄥ ㄇㄧㄥˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): bing¹ syut³ cung¹ ming⁴

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: bīngxuěcōngmíng
    • Zhuyin: ㄅㄧㄥ ㄒㄩㄝˇ ㄘㄨㄥ ㄇㄧㄥˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: bingsyuěcongmíng
    • Wade–Giles: ping¹-hsüeh³-tsʻung¹-ming²
    • Yale: bīng-sywě-tsūng-míng
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: bingsheuetsongming
    • Palladius: бинсюэцунмин (binsjuecunmin)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /piŋ⁵⁵ ɕy̯ɛ²¹⁴⁻²¹ t͡sʰʊŋ⁵⁵ miŋ³⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: bing¹ syut³ cung¹ ming⁴
    • Yale: bīng syut chūng mìhng
    • Cantonese Pinyin: bing¹ syt⁸ tsung¹ ming⁴
    • Guangdong Romanization: bing¹ xud³ cung¹ ming⁴
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /pɪŋ⁵⁵ syːt̚³ t͡sʰʊŋ⁵⁵ mɪŋ²¹/

Idiom

冰雪聰明

1. extremely intelligent