📖 Meaning
To be displaced and wander about with nowhere to settle. It describes the plight of people who have lost their home and means of livelihood, drifting helplessly without shelter. The phrase conveys the misery and insecurity of being uprooted.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase originates from Ming dynasty writer Feng Menglong's collection 'Stories Old and New' (古今小说), in the tale 'Shan Fulang's Fine Match in Quanzhou' (单符郎全州佳偶). In the story, a character remarks that his own flesh and blood has been displaced and left without a home, and that gathering them back is a matter of absolute necessity. The expression thus captures the sorrow of relatives scattered and destitute during times of upheaval.
💡 Example Usage
战乱让无数百姓流落失所，苦不堪言。
The war left countless common people displaced and homeless, suffering unbearable hardship.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 流落失所
- Pinyin: liú luò shī suǒ
- Literal Translation: flow, fall, lose, place
- Category: Condition
- Characters: 4