遥知不是雪

遙知不是雪

yáozhībùshìxuě

phrase

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, yáo zhī bùshì xuě, wèi yǒu àn xiāng lái.

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 yáo zhī bùshì xuě.

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