曾经沧海 / 曾經滄海

céng​jīng​cāng​hǎi

widely experienced

Having seen the world or experienced the great ups and downs of life; meaning that after witnessing something vast or grand, ordinary things no longer seem impressive. Often refers to having broad knowledge or being sophisticated through experience. From a poem by [[元稹|元稹|yuan2 zhen3]] based on [[孟子|孟子|meng4 zi3]].

曾经 (literal) → 曾经/曾經 · céng​jīng · once 沧海 (literal) → 沧海/滄海 · cāng​hǎi · the sea

Changed: simplified, traditional, gloss, definition, pinyin, variant pinyin, variants, separable parts, decomposition

created sense May 20, 2026, 07:57 PM