落花流水

Chinese

		fallen flower petals; falling blossoms	flowing water; something flowing rapidly, continually or irreversibly like water
trad. (落花流水)		落花	流水
simp. #(落花流水)		落花	流水
Literally: “falling blossoms and flowing water”.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): luòhuāliúshuǐ

  (Zhuyin): ㄌㄨㄛˋ ㄏㄨㄚ ㄌㄧㄡˊ ㄕㄨㄟˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): lok⁶ faa¹ lau⁴ seoi²

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: luòhuāliúshuǐ
    • Zhuyin: ㄌㄨㄛˋ ㄏㄨㄚ ㄌㄧㄡˊ ㄕㄨㄟˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: luòhualióushuěi
    • Wade–Giles: lo⁴-hua¹-liu²-shui³
    • Yale: lwò-hwā-lyóu-shwěi
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: luohhualioushoei
    • Palladius: лохуалюшуй (loxualjušuj)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /lu̯ɔ⁵¹ xu̯ä⁵⁵ li̯oʊ̯³⁵ ʂu̯eɪ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: lok⁶ faa¹ lau⁴ seoi²
    • Yale: lohk fā làuh séui
    • Cantonese Pinyin: lok⁹ faa¹ lau⁴ soey²
    • Guangdong Romanization: log⁶ fa¹ leo⁴ sêu²
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /lɔːk̚² faː⁵⁵ lɐu̯²¹ sɵy̯³⁵/

Idiom

落花流水

1. (of late spring) in decline; waning
2. desolate; dilapidated
3. (by extension) utterly defeated; in a sorry state

   • 舊世界打個落花流水，奴隸們起來，起來！ [MSC, trad.]
     旧世界打个落花流水，奴隶们起来，起来！ [MSC, simp.]

     From: The Internationale, trans. Qu Qiubai.

     Jiù shìjiè dǎ ge luòhuāliúshuǐ, núlìmen qǐlái, qǐlái! [Pinyin]

     Smash the old world into pieces / Arise, slaves, arise!

Japanese

Kanji in this term
落	花	流	水
らく > らっ Grade: 3	か Grade: 1	りゅう Grade: 3	すい Grade: 1
on'yomi

Etymology

Literally, “falling flowers, flowing water”, 落花(らっか) (rakka) + 流水(りゅうすい) (ryūsui)

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) らっか・りゅうすい [ráꜜkkàryùúsúí] (Atamadaka + Heiban – [1]+[0])
• IPA^(key): [ɾa̠k̚ka̠ɾʲɨːsɨi]

Noun

落(らっ)花(か)流(りゅう)水(すい) • (rakkaryūsui) ^{←らくくゎりうすい (rakukwariusui)?}

1. falling flowers and flowing water
2. mutual love

References

• “落花流水”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎^[1] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2026