# 沆瀣一氣



## Dragonseed

A friend just gave me this 成語  to test my knowledge of the Chinese culture... I must admit he probably over-estimate me a lot, but anyway...
Does anyone know it's origins?

沆瀣一氣


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## hehehehe

沆瀣一气
There was an officer named Cui沆 in the Tang Dynasty. Once, he was in charge of an examination. Coincidentally, in this exam, one named Cui瀣 was admitted. 
Cui沆and Cui瀣 had the same first name, and 沆瀣 together means dew. Therefore, a people called QianXibai said in an article "座主门生，沆瀣一气", which means "it's fate that lead Cui沆and Cui瀣 together. And they two get along very well and can be separated, just as vapour gathers and becomes one small waterdrop. 
Then these words develop to describe some people help each other commit a crime or do something morally wrong.


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## ameifree

http://ms.ly.ks.edu.tw/~chinese/i-work/idiom.htm
(This web-site can help you a lot to understand but just Chinese.) 

Well. I am also curious your friend is profesor o or Chinese teacher?
It is difficult idiom for us too. 
Now if you go outside to ask any pedestrian in TW Taiwan, maybe lots of students don't understand its meaning well. (><)


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## xiaolijie

The link by ameifree above doesn't seem to work. Try this:

http://ms.ly.ks.edu.tw/~chinese/i_work/idiom.htm


PS: Can some native speakers please confirm whether *沆瀣* (apart from meaning "evening mist") is also a slang for *放屁* ?

谢谢！


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## avlee

xiaolijie, I never heard of a lang like that in my life so far.


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## xiaolijie

avlee said:


> xiaolijie, I never heard of a lang like that in my life so far.


 
Neither have I , but my question arose from my search for the answer to Dragonseed's question, in which I came across this sentence: "如果把他们的名字连在一起就是“崔沆瀣”，而“沆瀣”正好是夜间放屁的一种别称。" 
(= If you put their names together, they become 'Cui HangXie', where _'hangxie'_ happens to be another word for _'farting in the night'_ (??? ))


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## Dragonseed

Thanks a lot for your help and explanations.
Now I can go back to my friend a more clever student! 

I find these 成語 ("idioms" in English?) fascinating, and a lot of fun!


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## hehehehe

xiaolijie said:


> Neither have I , but my question arose from my search for the answer to Dragonseed's question, in which I came across this sentence: "如果把他们的名字连在一起就是“崔沆瀣”，而“沆瀣”正好是夜间放屁的一种别称。"
> (= If you put their names together, they become 'Cui HangXie', where _'hangxie'_ happens to be another word for _'farting in the night'_ (??? ))


xiaolijie, I think maybe it's a typing error. But if 沆瀣 does have this meaning which I don't know somewhere in China, that would be very funny.


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## coconutpalm

My google results yielded the same posts that say 沆瀣 means 放屁， but I have never heard of this explanation. Perhaps it meant 放屁 in Tang Dynasty.
However, there is "餐六氣而飲沆瀣兮，漱正陽而含朝霞", you can't simply drinkï‹ it if 沆瀣 means 屁，right? And 沆 and 瀣 are both connected with water (它們都是水字旁) ---- is there any connection between fart and water? I don't think so.
沆瀣
hang4 xie4 
夜間的水氣，露水
http://xh.5156edu.com/html3/8272.html
呼吸沆瀣兮餐朝霞。——司马相如《大人赋》Perhaps the misunderstanding arises from here? However, 水氣 is not equal with 氣！

My conclusion is that the writer of that post probably made a mistake.


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## kareno999

xiaolijie said:


> Neither have I , but my question arose from my search for the answer to Dragonseed's question, in which I came across this sentence: "如果把他们的名字连在一起就是“崔沆瀣”，而“沆瀣”正好是夜间放屁的一种别称。"
> (= If you put their names together, they become 'Cui HangXie', where _'hangxie'_ happens to be another word for _'farting in the night'_ (??? ))


第一次听说。也许是闽南话或者什么方言的用法？


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## jedediah

coconutpalm said:


> My google results yielded the same posts that say 沆瀣 means 放屁， but I have never heard of this explanation. Perhaps it meant 放屁 in Tang Dynasty.
> However, there is "餐六氣而飲沆瀣兮，漱正陽而含朝霞", you can't simply drinkï‹ it if 沆瀣 means 屁，right? And 沆 and 瀣 are both connected with water (它們都是水字旁) ---- is there any connection between fart and water? I don't think so.
> 沆瀣
> hang4 xie4
> 夜間的水氣，露水
> 
> 呼吸沆瀣兮餐朝霞。——司马相如《大人赋》Perhaps the misunderstanding arises from here? However, 水氣 is not equal with 氣！
> 
> My conclusion is that the writer of that post probably made a mistake.



I'd rather believe 沆瀣 did have that archaic usage in the past.     It doesn't look like the write has a trembling hand nor do I see the incentive to deliberately make a false argument like this.


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## avlee

Well, I was just away for a couple of days and came back with so many posts relating to this interesting quiz.
From coconutpalm's cite, the probability to certify the correctness of this slanguage (why I put it as lang before? Don't know.) is rather small. 
Another thing is that posts on websites are not always accurate as the auiting system is not that clear and strict.
Or maybe, it is just true among a certain quantity of users for a short period. No one can tell.


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## hello_chris

I agree with floor 9
At the first beginning, *"沆瀣"* hang 4 xie 4 used to mean 夜間的水氣,露水, which is a good and fine thing. But with the evolvement of words, *沆瀣* got a negative meaning. Now when *沆瀣 *comes into my mind, it means something dirty or no good. The possible reasons maybe the pronuciation of hang4xie4 is not good or sounds like dirty water or something else.


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