Chinese idiom · 成语
晓风残月
Meaning
Dawn breeze, waning moon; melancholic beauty.
Character by character
Origin and story
Poetic imageLiu Yong's Song lyric to the tune Yu Lin Ling begins with an autumn farewell. Rain has stopped, a boat is waiting, and the departing speaker and companion can barely speak through their tears. He imagines where he will wake after drinking: beside willows, with a dawn breeze and the remaining moon.
The scene is anticipated within the poem, not narrated as a later event that has already happened. Its few images make separation feel cold and lonely, and the poem ends by asking with whom future feelings can be shared. The phrase consequently evokes a delicate, often melancholy dawn atmosphere.
Sources and further reading
In everyday life
清晨拍下的河岸有种晓风残月的清冷，让我想起送别朋友的那天。
The riverbank I photographed at dawn has a lonely chill that reminds me of the day I saw my friend off.
An evocative literary description of a quiet, melancholy dawn.