gǔ​pén

to mourn a wife's death

  • created sense approved 鼓盆 · gǔ​pén · to mourn a wife's death — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    鼓盆

    gǔ​pén

    to mourn a wife's death

    Literally meaning to drum on a bowl; used as an idiom to express grief for a lost wife. The phrase originates from the Daoist philosopher [[庄子|莊子|zhuang1 zi3]], who was found singing and drumming on a basin after his wife died, viewing death as a natural transition.

    鼓 (literal) → 鼓 · gǔ · to beat 盆 (literal) → 盆 · pén · basin

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

    created sense