背影

bèiyǐng

noun #23,149

Measure Word

一个背影 gè

Meanings

1 rear view
2 figure seen from behind
3 silhouette of a person's back

Characters

shadow; figure; silhouette

Examples

我看着他的背影渐渐消失在人群中。

Wǒ kànzhe tā de bèiyǐng jiànjiàn xiāoshī zài rénqún zhōng.

I watched his figure from behind gradually disappear into the crowd.

母亲的背影让我心里很不是滋味。

Mǔqīn de bèiyǐng ràng wǒ xīn lǐ hěn bù shì zīwèi.

The sight of my mother's back filled me with a strange feeling of sadness.

In Pop Culture

背影 Bèiyǐng

Title of a famous 1925 prose essay by Zhu Ziqing (朱自清), describing the moving sight of his father's figure from behind as he struggled to buy him oranges at a train station. One of the most celebrated pieces in modern Chinese literature.

essay by Zhu Ziqing (朱自清), 1925

Stroke Order

背 bēi

影 yǐng