叶落归根

葉落歸根

yèluòguīgēn

idiom #75,891

Meanings

1 fallen leaves return to the roots
2 everything has its ancestral home
3 in old age one longs to return to one's birthplace

Characters

Examples

他在国外生活了几十年，最后还是叶落归根，回到了故乡。

Tā zài guówài shēnghuó le jǐ shí nián, zuìhòu háishi yèluòguīgēn, huí dào le gùxiāng.

He lived abroad for decades, but in the end like a falling leaf returning to its roots, he came back to his hometown.

树高千丈，叶落归根。

Shù gāo qiān zhàng, yèluòguīgēn.

However tall the tree grows, its leaves return to the roots.

Tips

history

First recorded in the Song-dynasty Chan text 《景德传灯录》: 叶落归根，来时无口 — a Buddhist phrase about return to origin. It later passed into general usage about expatriates returning home in old age.

culture

Carries a strong nostalgic and filial weight in overseas Chinese communities — the wish to be buried in one's ancestral village or to retire there is the prototypical 叶落归根.

Stroke Order

叶 yè

落 luò

归 guī

根 gēn