Lantern riddle 燈謎 (灯谜)

dēngmí · from Chinese

What is a lantern riddle?

A lantern riddle (燈謎) is a Chinese riddle traditionally hung on lanterns at the Lantern Festival, often solved by dissecting or punning on characters.

Answers are frequently a single character, a chengyu or a place name. Many riddles split characters into components or rely on homophones. Guessing them is a centuries-old festival pastime still practised in Taiwan, Hong Kong and mainland China.

Examples

千里相逢 qiānlǐ xiāngféng (a thousand li meeting) → 重 zhòng (千 + 里); 一口咬掉牛尾巴 (one bite off the cow's tail) → 告 gào

Kungfucius says: A riddle where the answer is hiding inside the question, literally between the strokes.