📖 Meaning
A metaphor for a turbulent and highly unstable situation. It depicts circumstances as precarious and shaky, like something being tossed about by wind and rain. It is a variant form of the more common idiom 风雨飘摇.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom first appears in the Tang dynasty work 'Eulogy of Two Filial Sons' (二孝赞) by the scholar Li Hua, where the line '风雨漂摇，支体鳞皴' describes bodies battered and cracked amid wind and rain. The Qing dynasty scholar Qian Qianyi later employed it in the preface to Sun Chuwei's poetry collection to convey his dread during turbulent times. Over the centuries it has been used to characterize shaky political or social conditions.
💡 Example Usage
时局风雨漂摇，他忧虑难眠。
With the situation tossed about like a storm, he lay awake, unable to sleep for worry.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 风雨漂摇
- Pinyin: fēng yǔ piāo yáo
- Literal Translation: wind, rain, drift, sway
- Category: Condition
- Characters: 4