遥知不是雪

遙知不是雪

yáo zhī bùshì xuě

quotation

Meanings

1 from afar I can tell it is not snow
2 (fig.) recognizing plum blossoms mistaken for snow — you know the real thing by its fragrance
3 (lit.) far — know — not — is — snow

Characters

Examples

墙角的白花隔远看像雪，遥知不是雪，为有暗香来。

Qiángjiǎo de bái huā gé yuǎn kàn xiàng xuě, yáozhībùshìxuě, wèiyǒu'ànxiānglái.

The white flowers at the wall's corner looked like snow from a distance — 'from afar I can tell it's not snow, because a faint fragrance comes.'

她闻到梅香，想起遥知不是雪。

Tā wéndào méi xiāng, xiǎngqǐ yáozhībùshìxuě.

She smelled the plum blossom and thought of 'from afar I can tell it is not snow.'

Tips

history

From 王安石《梅花》 (Wang Anshi, Northern Song, 11th c.), a 20-character quatrain: 墙角数枝梅，凌寒独自开。遥知不是雪，为有暗香来 (A few sprays of plum by the corner wall, bearing the cold, blooming alone. From afar I know it is not snow — because a subtle fragrance comes). Wang Anshi was famously a reformer; the plum blooming alone in winter is traditionally read as a self-portrait of the isolated reformer.

usage

Always quoted paired with 为有暗香来 (because a faint fragrance comes). The whole point is epistemological: sight says snow, but scent reveals plum — truth comes not just from appearance. 遥 = 'from afar,' not 'far away.'

Stroke Order

遥 yáo

知 zhī

不 bù

是 shì

雪 xuě