萍水相逢
- Literal
- duckweed and water meeting
- Figurative
- Two strangers crossing paths by chance; it stresses the lack of any prior tie, whether to highlight a kindness or to keep one's distance.
Where does 萍水相逢 come from?
It comes from the "Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng," which the young Tang poet Wang Bo wrote at a banquet held in that pavilion in Hongzhou, today's Nanchang. In a melancholy passage about travelers who have lost their way, he writes: "We meet like duckweed drifting on the water; all of us are guests from other lands." Duckweed floats without roots and goes wherever the current takes it, so when two pieces meet, it is pure chance. Today it describes two strangers whose paths cross briefly, sometimes to stress that they still helped each other, sometimes to stress that there is no tie at all.
Source (出处): 王勃《滕王阁序》
How is 萍水相逢 used? Two examples
- 我跟他萍水相逢，他却冒着雨把我送到了车站。
We were complete strangers, yet he walked me to the station in the rain.
- 在青年旅舍萍水相逢的几个人，后来成了一起创业的伙伴。
A few people who happened to meet at a youth hostel later went on to start a company together.
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