狐死首丘

húsǐ-shǒuqiū
idiom

Meanings

  1. 1 a dying fox turns its head toward its home hill
  2. 2 longing for home, especially in old age

Examples

Tā niánjì dà le, húsǐshǒuqiū, xiǎng huílǎojiā dùguò wǎnnián.
Grown old, he longs for home like the dying fox turning to its hill, and wants to spend his last years in his hometown.
Húsǐshǒuqiū de qínghuái ràng tā zhōngjiū huídào le gùxiāng.
The fox-turning-to-the-hill feeling eventually brought him back to his birthplace.

Tips

history
From 屈原·》and 《礼记·》: tradition held that a fox, no matter how far it roamed, turned its head toward the hill where its den lay as it died. Confucian commentary called this — a sign of not forgetting one's roots.

Stroke Order

shǒu
qiū