春眠不觉晓

春眠不覺曉
chūn mián bù jué xiǎo
quotation

Meanings

  1. 1 sleeping in spring, one does not notice dawn
  2. 2 the pleasant laziness of sleeping through a spring morning

Examples

Chūntiān zhēnshì chūnmiánbùjuéxiǎo, nàozhōng dōu jiào bù xǐng wǒ.
Spring really is ‘spring sleep, unaware of dawn’ — even the alarm can't wake me.
Xuéshēng men chūnmiánbùjuéxiǎo, chángcháng chídào.
The students sleep through spring dawns, often arriving late.

Tips

history
Opening line of Meng Haoran 孟浩然's 《》 (Tang): ‘不觉处处风雨多少。’ (In spring I sleep past dawn; everywhere I hear birdsong. Through the night came wind and rain — how many blossoms have fallen, who knows?) One of the first poems Chinese children memorise.
usage
Used both literally (spring drowsiness) and figuratively (blissful obliviousness). (xiǎo) here = dawn, not ‘know.’

Stroke Order

chūn
mián
jué
xiǎo