📖 Meaning
This idiom describes the flying formations of wild geese during migration. Geese fly either in a diagonal V-shape (resembling the Chinese character 人) or in a straight horizontal line (resembling the character 一), hence the name. It evokes the orderly and disciplined flight patterns of migratory birds across the sky.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom derives from ancient Chinese observations of wild geese migrating south in autumn. Chinese poets and scholars have long admired the disciplined formations of geese, noting how they alternate between diagonal and horizontal patterns to conserve energy. While no single classical text is credited as the definitive source, the imagery appears frequently in Chinese poetry and prose, symbolizing order, unity, and the changing seasons.
💡 Example Usage
秋色连天，大雁斜行横阵，向南飞去。
The autumn hues stretch to the horizon as wild geese, in slanting and horizontal formations, fly southward.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 斜行横阵
- Pinyin: xié xíng héng zhèn
- Literal Translation: slanting, flying, horizontal, formation
- Category: Knowledge
- Characters: 4