duilian

Borrowed from Chinese 對聯 / 对联 (duìlián).

• Hyphenation: dui‧lian
• Rhymes: -iən

duilian (plural duilians)

1. (rhetoric, chiefly Chinese linguistics) a pair of content-related lines with same number of characters, same part of speech in each corresponding word, inverse tone patterns in each corresponding character, oblique tone as the last character of first line; (by extension) a physical object (often a scroll, plaque, or paper strip) inscribed with such text

• It can be also in other languages, notably CJKV.
• It is quite different from antitheses and couplets in other languages, so its synonyms could be misleading.
• A popular type used in the Chinese New Year is called 春聯／春联 (chūnlián, “chunlian; Spring Festival couplet; New Year('s) couplet”).
• When other types are ignored, equivalents of 春聯／春联 (chūnlián) such as New Year couplet and New Year's couplet are considered as synonyms of duilian.
• It has multiple semantic relations not yet universally translated from Chinese. Some areː

  Parasynonymː 上下聯／上下联 (“both lines of duilian; parts of duilian”)

  Meronymsː 上聯／上联 (shànglián, “top line; upper line; first half of duilian”), 下聯／下联 (xiàlián, “bottom line; lower line; second half of duilian”)

  Hyponymsː

  Usage/Contentː 春聯／春联 (chūnlián, “chunlian; Spring Festival couplet; New Year('s) couplet”), 輓聯／挽联 (wǎnlián, “elegiac couplet; mourning duilian; funeral duilian”)

  Linguistic featuresː 疊字聯／叠字联 (“reduplicated character couplets; duilian using reiterative locution; duilian with repeated characters on the same line”), 嵌字聯／嵌字联 (“embedded couplet; acrostic duilian; duilian with embedded text”), 絕對／绝对 (juéduì, “absolute couplet; perplexing couplet; unmatchable duilian; duilian in which a lines is impossible or challenging to be matched perfectly”), 無情對／无情对 (“irrelevant couplet; wordplay couplet; semantically mismatched antithetical couplet; duilian obeying rules except relevant content on both lines”, literally “ruthless pair; emotionless pair”)

• time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana is similar to a 無情對／无情对 but not any type of duilian due to repetition of flies like as corresponding words and unequal syllables in arrow and banana.

• antithetical couplet, Chinese couplet, couplet, coupled scrolls, duilian couplet

• 對聯／对联 (duìlián), with examples
• 對偶／对偶 (duì'ǒu, “antithesis”), a Chinese rhetoric similar to duilian but less strict