天南地北

tiānnán-dìběi
idiom #85,391

Meanings

  1. 1 south of the sky and north of the earth
  2. 2 from all corners of the country; far apart; (to chat) about all sorts of things

Examples

HSK 4
Wǒmen liǎ yígè zài Běijīng, yígè zài Guǎngzhōu, tiānnándìběi, hěn nán jiànmiàn.
One of us is in Beijing and the other in Guangzhou - we're at opposite ends of the country and rarely meet.
HSK 6
Lǎo péngyou jù zài yìqǐ, tiānnándìběi de liáo le yì wǎnshàng.
Old friends got together and chatted about all sorts of things all evening.

Tips

usage
Two distinct meanings: (1) physically far apart - 'on opposite ends of the world'; (2) talking about anything and everything - random, wide-ranging conversation. Context disambiguates.
history
Found in Yuan Haowen's 元好问 lyric 《迈陂塘》: 天南地北双飞客 - 'a pair of flying companions, from south of sky to north of earth.' The original was about wild geese flying across vast distances.

Stroke Order

tiān
nán
běi