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飘零

飄零
piāolíng
verb #37,240

Meanings

  1. 1 to drift down and wither (like falling leaves)
  2. 2 (figurative) to drift homeless and alone
  3. 3 to lead a wandering, rootless life

Examples

深秋时节，黄叶飘零。
Shēnqiū shíjié, huángyè piāolíng.
In late autumn, yellow leaves drift down and wither.
战乱中，他四处飘零，无家可归。
Zhànluàn zhōng, tā sìchù piāolíng, wú jiā kě guī.
During the war, he drifted from place to place with no home to return to.

Tips

culture
飘零 is highly literary and almost always carries a melancholic tone. Two main senses braid together: literal — leaves or blossoms drifting from a tree; and figurative — a person scattered from family or homeland. Both feed the deep cultural trope of 落叶飘零 ('falling leaves drifting') as a symbol for life's impermanence and exile, common in Tang poetry and pre-1949 modern writing about war refugees.
usage
Pairs strongly with 黄叶 (yellow leaves), 落花 (fallen blossoms), 身世 (one's life circumstances), 海外 (overseas). The reduplicated form 飘飘零零 stretches the image into something even more drifting. In modern speech, prefer 漂泊 (piāobó) for plain 'to wander / drift', and reserve 飘零 for poetic or written contexts.

Stroke Order

飘 piāo
零 líng