琴劍飄零 qín jiàn piāo líng

to wander with no steady job or home

Word data

HSK Not in HSK
Frequency Unknown

Definitions

  1. 1. floating between zither and sword (idiom); fig. wandering aimlessly with no tenured position

Characters

Character Meaning
琴 qín HSK 4
musical instrument in general
劍 jiàn
double-edged sword; classifier for blows of a sword
飄 piāo
to float; variant of 飄piāo
零 líng HSK 2
zero; fractional; fraction