乱七八糟 – Luan Qi Ba Zao – In a Total Mess

Chengyu

乱七八糟 – luàn qī bā zào

Chinese Character Break Down

乱 – chaos
七 – seven
八 – eight
糟 – mess

乱七八糟: chaos seven eight mess, every which way

Idiom Meaning

Something is in a state of total mess.

Chengyu Examples

哎呀，你桌子上乱七八糟的。
āiya, nǐ zhuōzi shàng luànqībāzào de.
Gee, your desk is messy.

电脑弹出乱七八糟的网页怎么办啊？
diànnǎo tánchū luànqībāzàode wǎngyè zěnmèban a?.
What should I do, random websites keep popping up on the computer!

Chengyu Story and Background

乱七八糟 is not a Chengyu in the traditonal way. It origniates from the late Qing dynasty (1644-1912). To be exact, it can be traced down to author Zeng Pu 曾朴 (1872-1935), where he mentioned the phrase in his 1894 novel “A Flower in a Sinful Sea”:

你看屋里的图书字画，家伙器皿，布置得清雅整洁，
不像公坊以前乱七八糟的样子了.

My shot at a translation: “Look at the books and calligraphies in the room, the tools and their containers, arranged elegantly and neatly, not anymore in the messy way the common craftsmen’s were in the past.”