落花流水

Chinese

		fallen flower petals; falling blossoms	flowing water; something flowing rapidly, continually or irreversibly like water
trad. (落花流水)		落花	流水
simp. ^#(落花流水)		落花	流水
Literally: “falling blossoms and flowing water”.

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): luòhuāliúshuǐ

(Zhuyin): ㄌㄨㄛˋ ㄏㄨㄚㄌㄧㄡˊ ㄕㄨㄟˇ
Cantonese (Jyutping): lok⁶ faa¹ lau⁴ seoi²

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: luòhuāliúshuǐ
  - Zhuyin: ㄌㄨㄛˋ ㄏㄨㄚㄌㄧㄡˊ ㄕㄨㄟˇ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: luòhualióushuěi
  - Wade–Giles: lo⁴-hua¹-liu²-shui³
  - Yale: lwò-hwā-lyóu-shwěi
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: luohhualioushoei
  - Palladius: лохуалюшуй (loxualjušuj)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /lu̯ɔ⁵¹ xu̯ä⁵⁵ li̯oʊ̯³⁵ ʂu̯eɪ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
  - Jyutping: lok⁶ faa¹ lau⁴ seoi²
  - Yale: lohk fā làuh séui
  - Cantonese Pinyin: lok⁹ faa¹ lau⁴ soey²
  - Guangdong Romanization: log⁶ fa¹ leo⁴ sêu²
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /lɔːk̚² faː⁵⁵ lɐu̯²¹ sɵy̯³⁵/

Idiom

落花流水

(of late spring) in decline; waning
desolate; dilapidated
(by extension) utterly defeated; in a sorry state
- 舊世界打個落花流水，奴隸們起來，起來！ [MSC, trad.]
  旧世界打个落花流水，奴隶们起来，起来！ [MSC, simp.]
  From: The Internationale, trans. Qu Qiubai.
  Jiù shìjiè dǎ ge luòhuāliúshuǐ, núlìmen qǐlái, qǐlái! [Pinyin]
  Smash the old world into pieces / Arise, slaves, arise!

Japanese

Kanji in this term
落	花	流	水
らく > らっ Grade: 3	か Grade: 1	りゅう Grade: 3	すい Grade: 1
on'yomi

Etymology

Literally, “falling flowers, flowing water”, 落花(らっか) (rakka) + 流水(りゅうすい) (ryūsui)

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ɾa̠k̚ka̠ɾʲɨːsɨi]

Noun

落(らっ)花(か)流(りゅう)水(すい) • (rakkaryūsui) ^{←らくくゎりうすい (rakukwariusui)^?}

falling flowers and flowing water
mutual love