📖 Meaning
This idiom describes an extremely large quantity or number of things. It conveys the sense of countless multitudes, formed by the repetition of '成' (to become/reach) before each numeral. It is commonly used to emphasize abundance or a vast scale.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase appears in the work of modern Chinese writer Ye Shengtao (叶圣陶), notably in his short piece '小病' (Minor Illness). In the original context, Ye imagines a vast audience in a great city gathering to hear a woman sing, using '成千成万' to convey the immense crowd. The idiom builds on the classical Chinese pattern of pairing numerals to express magnitude, here doubled with '成' for rhetorical emphasis. It has since become a common expression in modern written and spoken Chinese.
💡 Example Usage
春节期间，成千成万的游客涌入了这座古城。
During the Spring Festival, tens of thousands of tourists poured into the ancient city.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 成千成万
- Pinyin: chéng qiān chéng wàn
- Literal Translation: become, thousand, become, ten thousand
- Category: Variety
- Characters: 4