好景不长 (hǎo jǐng bù cháng) — good times don't last long; all good things must come to an end

Definition

A chengyu meaning good times don't last — used to lament a happy situation ending sooner than hoped.

verb
good times don't last longall good things must come to an end

Examples

  • ，好景不长，。
    Zhè jiā gōng sī yì kāi shǐ hěn zhuàn qián, dàn hǎo jǐng bù cháng, hěn kuài jiù dǎo bì le.
    This company made a lot of money at first, but good times didn't last long; it soon went bankrupt.
  • ，好景不长，。
    Wǒ men lǚ yóu de nà jǐ tiān tiān qì hěn hǎo, dàn hǎo jǐng bù cháng, dì sān tiān jiù kāi shǐ xià yǔ le.
    The weather was great during our trip, but it didn't last; it started raining on the third day.
  • ，好景不长，。
    Tā men jié hūn hòu hěn xìng fú, dàn hǎo jǐng bù cháng, yì nián hòu jiù lí hūn le.
    They were very happy after getting married, but it didn't last; they divorced a year later.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
主谓zhǔwèiSubject + predicate

A small sentence frozen into a word: something, and what it does or is.

好景good times
好hǎogood景jǐngscene
偏正Modifier + head
不长not long
不bùnot长chánglast long
偏正Modifier + head

好景 (good times) 不 (not) 长 (last long), so good times do not last long.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

好 joins 女 (woman) and 子 (child), understood as a woman with a child, linked to goodness or affection.

Open 好 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
日日rìsun
Sound part声符shēngfú
京
京jīng景jǐng
Same sound today

景 has 日 (sun) with 京, which gives its sound; it originally meant sunlight.

Open 景 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The picture in 不 originally showed a flower’s calyx; the “no” sense came later from a related character, not from this picture.

Open 不 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 長; 长 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 長 pictures an old man with long hair. The simplified 长 is a later shorthand, so its strokes do not show that original picture.

Open 长 →

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