不知今夕何夕

bù zhī jīn xī hé xī

quotation #59,534

Meanings

1 not knowing what night tonight is
2 so transported that one loses track of the date
3 (lit.) not know tonight-is-what-night

Characters

evening / night

Examples

HSK 7-9

月光下独酌，恍惚不知今夕何夕。

Yuèguāng xià dú zhuó, huǎnghū bùzhī jīnxī-héxī.

Drinking alone under the moonlight, dazed, not knowing what night this is.

HSK 7-9

三十年未见的朋友重逢，大家都不知今夕何夕。

Sānshí nián wèi jiàn de péngyou chóngféng, dàjiā dōu bùzhī jīnxī-héxī.

Friends reunited after thirty years - no one knew what night it was anymore.

Tips

history

A line that travels through the classical canon. Its famous Song-dynasty use is in Su Shi's (苏轼) 《念奴娇·中秋》: 我醉拍手狂歌，举杯邀月，对影成三客……不知今夕何夕. The deeper root is 《诗经·唐风·绸缪》: 今夕何夕，见此良人 - 'what night is this, that I meet such a fine one?' - a marriage-night lyric. In both cases the question marks a moment too charged to place in ordinary time.

usage

今夕 = 'tonight'; 何夕 = 'what night.' Said in moments of rapture, nostalgia, or drunken wonder. 夕 here means 'evening/night,' not 'west.'

Stroke Order

不 bù

知 zhī

今 jīn

夕 xī

何 hé