鼓盆之戚 gǔ pén zhī qī

grief for one’s dead wife

Word data

HSK Not in HSK
Frequency Unknown

Definitions

  1. 1. drumming on a bowl in grief (idiom, refers to Zhuangzi 庄子zhuāng zǐ grieving for his lost wife)
  2. 2. fig. grief for a lost wife

Characters

Character Meaning
鼓 gǔ HSK 4
drum; to drum; to strike
盆 pén HSK 5
basin; flower pot
之 zhī HSK 4
(possessive particle, literary equivalent of 的de); it
戚 qī HSK 4
variant of 戚qī; variant of 慼qī; grief