风月 (fēng yuè) — romantic love, love affairs; beautiful scenery (esp. in classical literature); (of speech) insubstantial, petty, frivolous

Definition

Literary/classical term that pairs 风 (wind) and 月 (moon) to evoke romantic love or beautiful natural scenery — rarely used in modern spoken Chinese. Often appears in set phrases like 风月之事 or 风月之谈.

noun
romantic lovelove affairsbeautiful scenery (esp. in classical literature)(of speech) insubstantialpettyfrivolous

Examples

  • 风月，。
    Tā xǐ huan tán lùn fēng yuè zhī shì, zǒng shì lí bù kāi ài qíng de huà tí.
    He likes to talk about romantic matters and always dwells on love themes.
  • 风月。
    Zhè shǒu shī miáo xiě le jiāng nán de fēng yuè měi jǐng.
    This poem depicts the beautiful scenery of Jiangnan.
  • 风月，。
    Tā men shuō de nà xiē huà dōu shì fēng yuè zhī tán, bú shè jí shí jì wèn tí.
    What they said was all frivolous talk that didn't address practical issues.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéSide by side

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

风fēngwind
月yuèmoon

风 and 月, wind and moon, form classical images of romance and scenery.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 风 →

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

月 was drawn as a crescent moon, with the curved outline showing the moon’s shape.

Open 月 →

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