慈母手中线

慈母手中線

címǔ shǒu zhōng xiàn

quotation

Meanings

1 the thread in a loving mother's hand
2 symbol of a mother's devotion and painstaking care for a departing child

Characters

Examples

HSK 5

每次看到慈母手中线这句诗，我就想起我妈。

Měicì kàndào címǔ shǒu zhōng xiàn zhè jù shī, wǒ jiù xiǎngqǐ wǒ mā.

Every time I read the line 'the thread in a loving mother's hand' I think of my mother.

HSK 7-9

游子身上的毛衣，就是慈母手中线织成的。

Yóuzǐ shēnshang de máoyī, jiùshì címǔ shǒu zhōng xiàn zhīchéng de.

The sweater on the traveler's back was woven from the thread in his loving mother's hand.

Tips

history

Opening of Meng Jiao 孟郊's Tang poem 《游子吟》: 慈母手中线，游子身上衣。临行密密缝，意恐迟迟归。 (A thread in the loving mother's hand becomes the cloth on the wanderer's body; stitch by stitch before he leaves, fearing his return will be long delayed.) One of the most beloved poems on maternal love in the Chinese canon.

usage

Usually quoted together with 游子身上衣. Common in Mother's Day writing and cards.

Stroke Order

慈 cí

母 mǔ

手 shǒu

中 zhōng

线 xiàn