沧 海 桑 田

cāng hǎi sāng tiándictionary entry

lit. the blue sea turned into mulberry fields (idiom) / fig. the transformations of the world

Sources & editorial notes

Reference definitions: CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source release 2026-10-27T01:55:52Z. Imported 2026-10-27. Definition wording and meaning order are retained. Recognized pronunciation references are displayed with tone marks; the original source record is available below.

Source record: cd-a17cec1c31273c5c. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

滄海桑田 沧海桑田 [cang1 hai3 sang1 tian2] /lit. the blue sea turned into mulberry fields (idiom)/fig. the transformations of the world/

Reference definitions and teaching material have separate provenance.

Reference information

The definitions above are from CC-CEDICT. Examples and usage notes are available on selected entries.

Character information

View the individual characters. Their meanings do not necessarily explain the meaning of the whole word.

Other forms in these source records: 滄海桑田

沧
cāng
(bound form) (of water, esp. the ocean) deep blue-green / (literary) cold
海
hǎi
ocean / sea / CL:個|个[gè],片[piàn] / great number of people or things / (dialect) numerous
Hǎi
surname Hai
桑
sāng
(bound form) mulberry tree
Sāng
surname Sang
田
tián
field / farm / CL:片[piàn]
Tián
surname Tian

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.