朝三暮四
zhāo sān mù sì · HSK 7
to change sth that is already settled upon
🐒🌰 朝 morning + 三 three + 暮 dusk + 四 four = the monkey-keeper's three-then-four bait swap
From a fable: a keeper offers monkeys three nuts at dawn and four at dusk, then flips it to four-dawn three-dusk; same total, but they only react to the reshuffle. So it tags a settled deal that gets re-juggled, or a fickle, blow-hot-blow-cold mind.
朝 — 十 + 日 + 十 + 月 (sun rising among grass, moon fading)
Originally a pictograph showing the sun (日) rising among grass or trees with the moon (月) still visible, depicting dawn. The core meaning 'morning' (zhāo) was extended to 'dynasty' or 'court audience' (cháo), since officials gathered before the ruler at daybreak.
三 — three horizontal strokes 一 + 一 + 一
三 is a pictographic numeral: three stacked horizontal lines representing the number three, parallel to 一 (one) and 二 (two). The form has been stable since oracle bone script. It carries no phonetic component; the meaning 'three' is direct and visual.
四 — enclosure 囗 + divide 八
Originally 四 was written as four horizontal strokes (亖), a simple tally for the number four. The current form, showing 八 (divide) inside an enclosure 囗, was borrowed during the Zhou dynasty and gradually replaced the older tally form. The shape is unrelated to its meaning today.