悲欢离合
bēi huān lí hé · HSK 7
partings and reunions
🎭🔄 sad + joy + part + merge — the full emotional cycle of life
Each character names one beat: 悲 grief, 欢 joy, 离 separation, 合 reunion. Together they sweep through every turn relationships take — loss, celebration, goodbye, homecoming.
离 — top 亠 + 凶 + 禸 (animal track)
Originally depicted a long-tailed bird caught in a net, from which the early sense 'oriole' arose. The character was later borrowed phonetically for the unrelated verb meaning 'to leave' or 'be apart from,' which became its dominant modern usage. The original bird sense faded out of everyday use.
合 — 乛 (lid/roof) + 口 (mouth)
Originally a pictograph of a lidded vessel — a cover (亼) closing over an opening (口) — giving the core sense of 'come together, join, fit.' From 'fit/match' it extended to 'combine, unite, agree' and to measure-word uses. The reading hé reflects this 'joining' meaning.