📖 Meaning
This idiom compares empty, exaggerated talk to the noisy chorus of frogs in spring and cicadas in autumn. It describes speech that is loud, pretentious, and full of florid rhetoric but utterly lacking in substance. The implication is that such talk makes a great clamor yet says nothing of value.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom comes from the Jin dynasty (晋) philosopher Yang Quan's work 《物理论》(Discourse on the Principles of Things). In it, Yang Quan criticizes the fashion for empty and baseless discussions that prize ornate literary flourish, declaring that such talk 'is no different from the spring frog and autumn cicada, which merely rasp and clamor with their tongues.' Through this natural metaphor, he scorns verbose but hollow speech as mere noise, no more meaningful than the seasonal cries of frogs and cicadas. The phrase thus entered the language as a vivid critique of sound without sense.
💡 Example Usage
他的演讲辞藻华丽却空洞无物，如春蛙秋蝉，聒噪一时。
His speech was florid yet utterly hollow, like the spring frog and autumn cicada — merely clamorous for a moment.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 春蛙秋蝉
- Pinyin: chūn wā qiū chán
- Literal Translation: spring frog, autumn cicada
- Category: Communication
- Characters: 4