CHENGYU
七零八落(qī líng bā luò)meaning, story and origin
- Register:
- neutral
- Source:
- 宋·惟白《建中靖国续灯录》
MEANING
- Literal
- seven scattered and eight fallen
- Figurative meaning
- scattered in disarray; in bits and pieces
ORIGIN STORY
From a Song dynasty Chan text: "idle talk, seven scattered and eight fallen" — words flung about with no order. The phrase spread to anything left in scattered disorder.
NATURAL EQUIVALENT
“scattered to the winds”
EXAMPLES
大风过后，树叶七零八落地掉了一地。Dà fēng guò hòu, shùyè qī líng bā luò de diào le yí dì.HSK6
After the gale, leaves lay scattered everywhere in disarray.
队伍被打得七零八落。Duìwu bèi dǎ de qī líng bā luò.HSK6
The ranks were shattered and scattered.
COMMON MISTAKE
Watch out: It is spatial or structural disorder — not losing everything (that is 鸡飞蛋打).
CHARACTER BREAKDOWN
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TRUST & SOURCES
- Reviewed by
- AI-assisted editorial review
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-15
- CC-CEDICT 2026-01-01