An Etymological Note of the Idiomatic Phrase Heidengxiahuo黑灯瞎/下火
The most prestigious dictionaries such as The Contemporary Chinese Dictionary(Xiandai Hanyu Cidian)spare an entry for the idiomatic phrase Heidengxiahuo黑灯瞎/下火,literally taken to mean DARK and UNLIT.The morpheme xia瞎/下,of which the sense should be decided as EXTINGUISHED,has its character to run at odds with the pronunciation and meaning.This paper argues that the morpheme should be identified as xie 灺,xuye qie徐野切,indicating candles dying out and then'extinguished',thus to match the phrase per se.
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