📖 Meaning
This idiom compares a person's life to broken stems and duckweed drifting aimlessly on water. It vividly describes a state of wandering, displacement, and homelessness, with no fixed abode or stable life.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom first appears in the Yuan Dynasty playwright Zhang Guobin's zaju drama "Luo Li Lang" (《罗李郎》), Act 2, where a character laments a loved one leaving alone to wander like drifting debris. It was later used by the Qing Dynasty dramatist Kong Shangren in his masterpiece "The Peach Blossom Fan" (《桃花扇》), in the scene "Mourning the Master" (《哭主》), to describe the suffering and displacement caused by war. The imagery of broken plant stems and floating duckweed evokes the helplessness of being swept along by the currents of fate.
💡 Example Usage
战乱年间，他梗泛萍飘十余载，终得返乡。
During the war-torn years, he drifted like a broken stem and floating duckweed for over a decade before finally returning home.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 梗泛萍飘
- Pinyin: gěng fàn píng piāo
- Literal Translation: broken stem, floating, duckweed, drifting
- Category: Condition
- Characters: 4