Definition
四壁 literally means 'four walls' and refers to the enclosing walls of a room. It is more literary than the everyday word 墙壁. You will often encounter it in idioms such as 家徒四壁 (jiā tú sì bì, 'having nothing but four walls', i.e., extremely poor) and 四壁空空 (sì bì kōng kōng, 'the four walls are empty', describing complete emptiness).
n.
the four walls (of a room)often used in literary expressions or idioms to evoke emptiness or poverty
Examples
- 四壁。Zhège fángjiān de sì bì shuā chéng le báisè.The four walls of this room are painted white.
- 四壁，。Tā jiā tú sì bì, shénme dōu méiyǒu.His family has nothing but four walls — they are extremely poor.
- 四壁。Zhǎnlǎntīng de sì bì guà mǎn le huà.The four walls of the exhibition hall are hung with paintings.
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