Chang Kuo

9.9

One of the eight immortals in Chinese Taoist stories shown as an old man riding a donkey backwards

proper noun

Literature

: Chang Kuo

In the traditional painting, Chang Kuo is shown riding his donkey backwards.

Examples

Stories of Chang Kuo are popular during Taoist festivals in China.
Many legends describe Chang Kuo as possessing supernatural wisdom and eccentric habits.
Chang Kuo is wise.
Don't forget Chang Kuo!
In the traditional painting, Chang Kuo is shown riding his donkey backwards.
Many legends describe Chang Kuo as possessing supernatural wisdom and eccentric habits.
Stories of Chang Kuo are popular during Taoist festivals in China.

Synonyms

Chang Kuo-lao

vsChang Kuo

Literature

9.9

One of the Eight Immortals in Taoism who appears as an old man riding a donkey backwards

is the same name spelled without a hyphen

Zhang Guolao

vsChang Kuo

Literature

9.9

A Taoist immortal from Chinese stories who rides a donkey backwards and uses magic

is the same name in a different romanization

Surface Forms

Chang Kuo main

Morphology

Chang + Kuo

This is a proper name from Chinese mythology referring to a specific immortal; the constituent tokens 'Chang' and 'Kuo' are not English lexical items with transparent meanings, so their combination does not yield the referent. Understanding this entry requires encyclopedic/cultural knowledge rather than compositional word knowledge, so a B1 learner who only knows the parts would not be able to derive the meaning.

Etymology

Chang Kuo is a figure from Chinese legend who is often shown riding a donkey backwards. One popular story says he rode that way to show his strange wisdom and to look at the world differently, so today the picture helps us remember him as an immortal who did things in his own way.