人琴俱亡

rénqínjùwáng

idiom

Meanings

1 both the person and the lute are gone (idiom)
2 deep grief at a friend's death

Characters

qin (Chinese zither)

Examples

好友病逝，他不禁有人琴俱亡之感。

Hǎoyǒu bìngshì, tā bùjīn yǒu rénqínjùwáng zhī gǎn.

When his close friend died of illness, he was overcome by the grief of 'person and lute both gone'.

睹物思人，人琴俱亡的悲哀涌上心头。

Dǔ wù sī rén, rénqínjùwáng de bēi'āi yǒng shàng xīntóu.

Seeing the objects and remembering the person, the sorrow of losing both friend and his lute welled up in his heart.

Tips

history

From 《晋书·王徽之传》: when calligrapher Wang Xianzhi died, his brother Wang Huizhi went to the funeral, picked up Xianzhi's qin (zither) to play, but found it wouldn't tune. He sighed, 'Alas, Zijing — the man and his lute are both gone,' threw the instrument down, and died of grief weeks later.

Stroke Order

人 rén

琴 qín

俱 jù

亡 wáng