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人比黄花瘦

人比黃花瘦
rén bǐ huánghuā shòu
quotation

Meanings

  1. 1 the person has grown thinner than the yellow chrysanthemum
  2. 2 wasting away from lovesickness or long separation
  3. 3 person - compared-to - yellow - flower - thin

Examples

HSK 7-9
她久病消瘦，真有几分人比黄花瘦的味道。
Tā jiǔ bìng xiāoshòu, zhēn yǒu jǐ fēn rén bǐ huánghuā shòu de wèidào.
She had grown thin from long illness, truly a touch of 'thinner than the yellow chrysanthemum.'
HSK 7-9
爱人远行，她形容自己是莫道不消魂，帘卷西风，人比黄花瘦。
Àirén yuǎnxíng, tā xíngróng zìjǐ shì mò dào bù xiāohún, lián juǎn xīfēng, rén bǐ huánghuā shòu.
Her love was far away; she described herself as 'don't say the soul is not undone - the curtain rolls in the west wind, and she is thinner than the yellow flower.'

Tips

history
Closing line of 李清照《醉花阴》 (Li Qingzhao, Northern Song, c. early 1100s), sent to her husband 赵明诚 during one of his official postings. The closing image - 莫道不消魂，帘卷西风，人比黄花瘦 - is traditionally called the greatest closing in all Song ci.
usage
黄花 here specifically means 菊花 (chrysanthemum), which blooms at 重阳节 (Double Ninth) when Li Qingzhao composed the ci. 比 is the classical comparative ('compared to / more than'). Always canonically preceded by 帘卷西风 - the image of the wind revealing the thin figure.

Stroke Order

人 rén
比 bǐ
黄 huáng
花 huā
瘦 shòu