📖 Meaning
Tears falling like rain and sorrow gathering like clouds. This idiom vividly describes a state of profound, overwhelming grief and melancholy, where one's sadness is so heavy that it seems to permeate the very sky and weather.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom originates from the first act (折) of the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) zaju play 《潇湘雨》 (Xiaoxiang Rain) by the playwright Yang Xianzhi (杨显之). In the passage, a character laments, '虽然道姻缘不偶，我可一言难就，有多少雨泣云愁' — though fate has not joined them as a couple, words cannot fully express how much weeping grief and cloudy sorrow there is. The phrase draws on the imagery of rain and clouds, natural phenomena that evoke heaviness and gloom, to externalize inner anguish. It has since been used in classical Chinese to describe someone crushed by deep, lamenting sorrow.
💡 Example Usage
望着满目疮痍的家乡，她雨泣云愁，久久不能自已。
Gazing at her devastated hometown, she wept with grief and was overcome with sorrow, unable to compose herself for a long time.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 雨泣云愁
- Pinyin: yǔ qì yún chóu
- Literal Translation: rain, weep, cloud, grief
- Category: Emotion
- Characters: 4