花落知多少

huāluòzhīduōshǎo

phrase

Meanings

1 how many blossoms have fallen, who can say?
2 who knows how many flowers have dropped
3 (lit.) flowers fallen — know how many?

Characters

Examples

一夜春雨过后，她推开窗叹道：花落知多少。

Yī yè chūnyǔ guòhòu, tā tuī kāi chuāng tàn dào: huā luò zhī duōshǎo.

After a night of spring rain, she pushed open the window and sighed, 'How many blossoms have fallen?'

人生若只如初见，那些错过的日子，花落知多少？

Rénshēng ruò zhǐ rú chū jiàn, nàxiē cuòguò de rìzi, huā luò zhī duōshǎo?

If only life stayed as fresh as the first meeting — how many days have we lost like fallen blossoms?

Tips

history

From Meng Haoran's (孟浩然) Tang-dynasty poem 《春晓》 (Spring Dawn). Full quatrain: 『春眠不觉晓，处处闻啼鸟。夜来风雨声，花落知多少』— the sleeper hears birdsong, remembers last night's storm, and wonders how many petals the wind took down. The gentle, half-rhetorical question is the poem's famous punchline.

usage

Quoted to suggest quiet loss — falling petals stand in for any passing beauty or irrecoverable time. Read 知 here as 'who knows' (an understated question), not 'I know.'

Stroke Order

花 huā

落 luò

知 zhī

多 duō

少 shǎo