The willow branches by the lake, some long and some short, sway gently in the wind.
Tips
mistakes
Both characters take rare readings here: 参 is cēn, not cān as in 参加 or shēn as in 人参, and 差 is cī, not chà as in 差不多.
usage
Its everyday form is 参差不齐 'uneven, of mixed quality'. The word is as old as the first poem of the Book of Songs, where 参差荇菜 describes water plants growing in uneven clumps.
