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落花流水

Mandarin · pinyin luò huā liú shuǐ

to be in a sorry state
to be utterly defeated

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Characters in this entry

落: luò · fall, drop; net income, surplus
花: huā · flower; blossoms
流: liú · flow, circulate, drift; class
水: shuǐ · water, liquid, lotion, juice

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

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Mandarin tones

4–1–2–3 · luo4 hua1 liu2 shui3

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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.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 3 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

lok6 faa1 lau4 seoi2

Cantonese word readings for 落花流水. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

(of late spring) in decline; waning
(idiomatic) desolate; dilapidated
(by extension) utterly defeated; in a sorry state

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

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