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| Xiehouyu | |||||||||||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | 歇後語 | ||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 歇后语 | ||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | A saying with the latter-part suspended | ||||||||||||||
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Xiehouyu are a type of Chinese proverb consisting of a former segment that presents a novel scenario, and a latter provides the rationale thereof. One would often only state the first part, expecting the listener to know the second. Xiehouyu are examples of anapodota, a class of rhetorical device found across different languages. Compare English an apple a day (keeps the doctor away) and speak of the devil (and he shall appear).
The Chinese word xiehouyu may be literally translated as 'truncated witticism'. Puns are often involved in 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.