沉浮

chénfú

verb #32,088

Meanings

1 to bob up and down on water; to sink and float
2 to rise and fall; ups and downs of fortune
3 vicissitudes

Characters

Examples

HSK 6

看尽人生沉浮，他变得格外平静。

Kàn jìn rénshēng chénfú, tā biàn de géwài píngjìng.

Having seen all of life's vicissitudes, he has grown unusually calm.

HSK 7-9

落叶在水面上沉浮。

Luòyè zài shuǐmiàn shàng chénfú.

Fallen leaves bob up and down on the water's surface.

HSK 7-9

他在商海里沉浮了三十年。

Tā zài shānghǎi lǐ chénfú le sānshí nián.

He's ridden the ups and downs of the business world for thirty years.

Tips

culture

The figurative use is iconic - Mao Zedong's 1925 poem 《沁园春·长沙》 ends with the line 问苍茫大地，谁主沉浮？ ('I ask the vast and hazy earth: who masters its rise and fall?') - a line so famous it's drilled into every Chinese high schooler. The word now carries that grand, fate-of-empires register whenever it's used metaphorically.

In Pop Culture

问苍茫大地，谁主沉浮？ Wèncāngmángdàdì, shéi zhǔ chénfú?

I ask the vast and hazy earth: who masters its rise and fall?

Closing line of Mao Zedong's 1925 ci poem 《沁园春·长沙》, taught in Chinese high schools and widely quoted to evoke the grand sweep of history.

Stroke Order

沉 chén

浮 fú