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来鸿去燕

lái hóng qù yàndictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
lit. the goose comes, the swallow goes (idiom) / fig. always on the move
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-f6a314ef3019a4c0. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

來鴻去燕 来鸿去燕 [lai2 hong2 qu4 yan4] /lit. the goose comes, the swallow goes (idiom); fig. always on the move/

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: 來鴻去燕

  • 来
    lái

    to come / (used as a substitute for a more specific verb) / hither (directional complement for motion toward the speaker, as in 回來|回来[huí lai]) / ever since (as in 自古以來|自古以来[zì gǔ yǐ lái]) / for the past (amount of time) / (prefix) the coming ... / the next ... (as in 來世|来世[lái shì]) / (between two verbs) in order to / (after a round number) approximately / (used after 得[dé] to indicate possibility, as in 談得來|谈得来[tán de lái], or after 不[bù] to indicate impossibility, as in 吃不來|吃不来[chī bu lái])

  • 鸿
    hóng

    eastern bean goose / great / large

  • 去
    qù

    to go / to go to (a place) / (of a time etc) last / just passed / to send / to remove / to get rid of / to reduce / to be apart from in space or time / to die (euphemism) / to play (a part) / (when used either before or after a verb) to go in order to do sth / (after a verb of motion indicates movement away from the speaker) / (used after certain verbs to indicate detachment or separation)

  • 燕
    yàn

    swallow (family Hirundinidae)

    Yān

    Yan, a vassal state of Zhou in present-day Hebei and Liaoning / north Hebei / the four Yan kingdoms of the Sixteen Kingdoms, namely: Former Yan 前燕[Qián Yān] (337–370), Later Yan 後燕|后燕[Hòu Yān] (384–409), Southern Yan 南燕[Nán Yān] (398–410), Northern Yan 北燕[Běi Yān] (409–436) / surname Yan

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.