Chinese word dictionary

此起彼伏

cǐqǐ-bǐfú · up here, down there (idiom); to rise and fall in succession; no sooner one subsides, the next arises; repeating continuously; occurring again and again (of applause, fires, waves, protests, conflicts, uprisings etc)

Practice word

Word information

Simplified此起彼伏

Traditional此起彼伏

Pinyincǐqǐ-bǐfú

Part of speechGeneral

HSK 3.07-9

HSK 2.0Not listed

Character breakdown

Study each Hanzi separately, then return to the complete word so pronunciation, meaning, and movement stay connected.

此cǐ

this, these; in this case, then

起qǐ

to begin, to initiate; to rise, to stand up

彼bǐ

that, those, the other

伏fú

to crouch, to crawl, to lie hidden, to conceal

How to learn 此起彼伏

Listen once without reading, repeat the pinyin with its tones, then write every character in sequence. Finally, recall the complete meaning instead of memorizing each character as an isolated translation.

When the word appears in a sentence, check whether its part of speech and meaning match the definition shown here. Chinese words can change nuance with context.

Related vocabulary

Words with the same characters

Compare how a familiar Hanzi changes meaning inside another word.

对不起duìbuqǐ

I'm sorry; excuse me; I beg your pardon; to let (sb) down; to disappoint

起床qǐchuáng

to get out of bed; to get up

起来qǐlái

to stand up; to get up; also pr. [qi3lai2]

一起yìqǐ

(in) the same place; together; in company (with); altogether; in total; an instance of; a case of (murder, accident, dispute etc)

起qǐ

to rise; to raise; to get up; to set out; to start; to appear; to launch; to initiate (action); to draft; to establish; to get (from a depot or counter); verb suffix, to start; starting from (a time, place, price etc); classifier for occurrences or unpredictable events: case, instance; classifier for groups: batch, group

起飞qǐfēi

(of an aircraft or rocket) to take off; to lift off; (fig.) (of an enterprise etc) to start to develop rapidly