皎皎河汉女 (jiǎojiǎohéhànnǚ): bright and shining, the Milky Way maid

Meanings

1 bright and shining, the Milky Way maid
2 (fig.) the Weaving Maid star, gleaming across the river of heaven — the Weaver half of the Weaver-and-Cowherd myth
3 (lit.) bright-bright Han-River maid

Characters

皎

bright (皎皎 = radiant)

Han (河汉 = the Milky Way)

女

nǚ

maid (here the Weaving Maid star)

Examples

七夕夜晚仰望星空，令人想起皎皎河汉女。

Qīxī yèwǎn yǎngwàng xīngkōng, lìng rén xiǎngqǐ jiǎojiǎo Héhàn nǚ.

Looking up at the stars on Qixi night, one thinks of 'the bright, shining maid of the Milky Way.'

诗人把织女比作皎皎河汉女，美而遥远。

Shīrén bǎ Zhīnǚ bǐzuò jiǎojiǎo Héhàn nǚ, měi ér yáoyuǎn.

The poet compares the Weaving Maid to 'the bright maid of the Milky Way' — beautiful and distant.

Tips

history

From 《古诗十九首·迢迢牵牛星》(one of the Nineteen Old Poems, Han era, collected in 《文选》): 迢迢牵牛星，皎皎河汉女。纤纤擢素手，札札弄机杼……盈盈一水间，脉脉不得语 (Far-far the Cowherd star; bright-bright the maid of the Milky Way. Slender her pale hands stretch out; clack-clack she works the loom... only a brimming stretch of water between them, yet gazing, gazing, they cannot speak). A foundation text of the 牛郎织女 (Cowherd and Weaver) legend, celebrated every Qixi Festival.

usage

河汉 (Héhàn) = the Han River = the Milky Way in classical astronomy. 女 = maid, here specifically 织女 (Zhinü, the Weaving Maid star, Vega). Almost always quoted paired with the first line 迢迢牵牛星. Reduplicated 皎皎 / 迢迢 is the poem's signature rhythmic device.