春宵

chūnxiāo

noun

Meanings

1 spring night
2 wedding night; night of love
3 Spring Night, a quatrain by Su Shi

Characters

Examples

HSK 6

春宵苦短，新婚夫妇舍不得入睡。

Chūnxiāo kǔ duǎn, xīnhūn fūfù shěbude rùshuì.

The spring night was all too short, and the newlyweds could not bear to fall asleep.

HSK 7-9

春宵很短，转眼天就亮了。

Chūnxiāo hěn duǎn, zhuǎnyǎn tiān jiù liàng le.

The spring night is short; in the blink of an eye it's dawn.

Tips

culture

Two famous lines give the word its romantic glow. 苏轼's quatrain 《春宵》 opens with 春宵一刻值千金 "a moment of a spring night is worth a thousand in gold", and 白居易's 《长恨歌》 says of the emperor and his beloved consort 春宵苦短日高起 "the spring night was too short; they rose when the sun was high".

Stroke Order

春 chūn

宵 xiāo