形单影只

形單影隻

xíngdān-yǐngzhī

idiom #26,817

Meanings

他在异乡形单影只，非常想家。

Tā zài yìxiāng xíngdānyǐngzhī, fēicháng xiǎng jiā.

Alone in a foreign land, he was very homesick.

节日里看到别人家庭团聚，她感到形单影只。

Jiérì lǐ kàndào biérén jiātíng tuánjù, tā gǎndào xíngdānyǐngzhī.

Seeing other families reunite during the holiday, she felt utterly alone.

memory

Picture a single figure (形) and a single shadow (影) — just one form and one shadow, nobody else around. That image captures the loneliness perfectly.

形 xíng

单 dān

影 yǐng

只 zhǐ