叶落归根

葉落歸根

yèluò-guīgēn

idiom #75,891

Meanings

1 fallen leaves return to the roots
2 everything has its ancestral home
3 in old age one longs to return to one's birthplace

Characters

Examples

HSK 3

他在国外生活了几十年，最后还是叶落归根，回到了故乡。

Tā zài guówài shēnghuó le jǐshí nián, zuìhòu háishi yèluò-guīgēn, huídào le gùxiāng.

He lived abroad for decades, but in the end like a falling leaf returning to its roots, he came back to his hometown.

HSK 7-9

树高千丈，叶落归根。

Shù gāo qiān zhàng, yèluò-guīgēn.

However tall the tree grows, its leaves return to the roots.

Tips

history

First recorded in the Song-dynasty Chan text 《景德传灯录》: 叶落归根，来时无口 - a Buddhist phrase about return to origin. It later passed into general usage about expatriates returning home in old age.

culture

Carries a strong nostalgic and filial weight in overseas Chinese communities - the wish to be buried in one's ancestral village or to retire there is the prototypical 叶落归根.

Stroke Order

叶 yè

落 luò

归 guī

根 gēn