似曾相识燕归来

似曾相識燕歸來

sìcéngxiāngshíyànguīlái

phrase

Meanings

1 the swallows return — looking somehow familiar
2 (fig.) the bittersweet sense that beloved things come back but not quite the same (time has moved)
3 (lit.) seem — once — mutually-know — swallow — return — come

Characters

to know (相识 = be acquainted)

Examples

春天又到，似曾相识燕归来。

Chūntiān yòu dào, sì céng xiāngshí yàn guī lái.

Spring has come again — 'and the swallows return, looking somehow familiar.'

老友重逢，真有似曾相识燕归来的感觉。

Lǎoyǒu chóngféng, zhēn yǒu sì céng xiāngshí yàn guī lái de gǎnjué.

Reuniting with old friends truly feels like 'the swallows return, looking somehow familiar.'

Tips

history

From 晏殊《浣溪沙·一曲新词酒一杯》 (Yan Shu, Northern Song, early 11th c.), perhaps the most admired couplet in all Song ci: 无可奈何花落去，似曾相识燕归来。小园香径独徘徊 (The flowers fall — nothing can be done; the swallows, looking somehow familiar, come back. Alone I pace the fragrant garden path). Yan Shu was both a grand chancellor and a 婉约 (graceful / delicate) master; this couplet is routinely chosen as the peak of the graceful style.

usage

Always canonically paired with 无可奈何花落去 (also generated separately). The pair functions as a single emotional unit: loss that cannot be stopped + return that is never quite the same. 似曾相识 has since become a productive chengyu meaning 'somehow familiar / déjà vu.'

Stroke Order

似 sì

曾 céng

相 xiāng

识 shí

燕 yàn

归 guī

来 lái