一落千丈

Pronunciation: yī luò qiān zhàng Literal meaning: Fall a thousand zhang

Origin & Usage

The idiom 一落千丈 (yī luò qiān zhàng) is commonly used in classical Chinese literature to describe a rapid and dramatic decline. It originally appeared in the Tang dynasty in a poem by Han Yu titled 《听颖师弹琴》, where it depicted the sudden drop in pitch of a musical performance. The characters 一 (yī) mean 'one', 落 (luò) means 'fall', 千 (qiān) means 'thousand', and 丈 (zhàng) is a unit of length, roughly equivalent to 3.3 meters. Together, they create a vivid image of something falling a great distance in an instant. In modern usage, this idiom is often employed to describe a significant drop in reputation, status, or economic conditions, emphasizing the severity and suddenness of the decline.

Examples

English: "After the scandal, his reputation fell dramatically."

Chinese: 在丑闻之后，他的名声一落千丈。