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风云 (fēng yún) — weather, wind and clouds (literal); unstable situation, turbulent times, upheaval (figurative)

Definition

Literally 'wind and cloud', but almost always used figuratively for turbulent, fast-changing situations (especially political or historical). Unlike 天气 ('weather' as a daily topic), 风云 refers to upheaval, closer to 动荡.

noun
weatherwind and clouds (literal)unstable situationturbulent timesupheaval (figurative)

Examples

  • ，。
    Hú miàn shàng fēng yún tū biàn, kàn lái yào xià yǔ le.
    The weather on the lake suddenly changed; it looks like it's going to rain.
  • 风云。
    Zhè chǎng zhèng zhì fēng yún yǐng xiǎng le xǔ duō rén de mìng yùn.
    This political upheaval affected many people's fates.
  • 风云。
    Tā zài nà ge fēng yún biàn huàn de nián dài zuò chū le zhòng yào gòng xiàn.
    He made important contributions in that era of changing circumstances.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

风fēngwind
云yúncloud

“风” and “云” name weather, and figuratively turbulent events.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 风 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 雲; 云 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 雲 is 雨 (rain) plus 云; 云 was the original writing for 'cloud', and 雨 was added to separate it from the borrowed sense 'to say'.

Open 云 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Abstract ConceptsWeather

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