灰飞烟灭

灰飛煙滅

huīfēiyānmiè

idiom #20,327

Meanings

1 to vanish without a trace
2 to be reduced to ashes
3 to disappear completely (like ash and smoke)

Characters

to extinguish / to vanish

Examples

多年的努力在一场大火中灰飞烟灭。

Duō nián de nǔlì zài yī chǎng dàhuǒ zhōng huīfēiyānmiè.

Years of hard work vanished in a great fire.

他的计划在失败后灰飞烟灭。

Tā de jìhuà zài shībài hòu huīfēiyānmiè.

His plans vanished without a trace after the failure.

Tips

history

灰飞烟灭 famously appears in Su Shi's (苏轼) 'Ode to the Red Cliff' (赤壁怀古): 'the great Zhou Yu's glory, 灰飞烟灭'. It captures complete annihilation — ash blown away, smoke dissolved into nothing.

Stroke Order

灰 huī

飞 fēi

烟 yān

灭 miè