One-syllable article

A one-syllable article is a type of constrained writing found in Chinese literature. It takes advantage of the large number of homophones in the Chinese language, particularly when writing in Classical Chinese due to historic sound changes. While the characters used in a one-syllable article have many different meanings, they are all pronounced as the same syllable, although not with the same tone. Therefore, a one-syllable article is comprehensible in writing but becomes an incomprehensible tongue twister when read aloud, especially in Mandarin Chinese pronunciation. In other regional dialect pronunciations, all syllables may not sound alike.

Notable examples

 * Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den, by Yuen Ren Chao
 * , by He Yuanwai