DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

樹高千丈，葉落歸根

简树高千丈，叶落归根 · 繁樹高千丈，葉落歸根

Mandarin · pinyin shù gāo qiān zhàng , yè luò guī gēn

fig. a tree may grow a thousand zhang high, but its leaves return to their roots (proverb)
fig. everything has its ancestral home
in old age, an expatriate returns home

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

樹: shù · tree; plant; set up, establish
高: gāo · high, tall; lofty, elevated; Kangxi radical 189
千: qiān · thousand; many, numerous; very; (Cant.) a cheater, swindler
丈: zhàng · unit of length equal 3.3 meters; gentleman, man, husband
葉: yè · leaf, petal; page of book; period
落: luò · fall, drop; net income, surplus
歸: Look up this written character
根: gēn · root, base(d on); foundation
树: shù · tree; plant; set up, establish
叶: yè · to harmonize, to rhyme; to unite; (borrowed for) leaf
归: guī · return; return to, revert to

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

Explore the spelling

Connected dictionary

10character links

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

樹高千丈，葉落歸根 · find source passages ↗ · 树高千丈，叶落归根 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗