渤澥桑田 bó xiè sāng tián

life's vicissitudes

Word data

HSK Not in HSK
Frequency Unknown

Definitions

  1. 1. life's vicissitudes
  2. 2. lit. blue seas where once was mulberry fields (idiom, from 史记shǐ jì, Record of the Grand Historian); time brings great changes

Characters

Character Meaning
渤 bó
Bohai Sea; used in place names
澥 xiè
to become watery; creek
桑 sāng HSK 6
mulberry tree; surname Sang; old variant of 桑sāng
田 tián HSK 6
field; farm; surname Tian