光阴似箭 (guāng yīn sì jiàn)

Character breakdown

• 光 (guāng) · 6 strokes

  Pictograph of fire on top of a person.

• 阴 (Yīn) · 6 strokes

  The traditional characters 陰 (Yin) and 陽 (Yang) were simplified to 阴 and 阳. In Chinese philosophy, the moon (月) corresponds to Yin (阴) and the sun (日) corresponds to Yang (阳).

• 似 (shì) · 6 strokes

  Phonosemantic compound. 亻 represents the meaning and 以 represents the sound.

• 箭 (jiàn) · 15 strokes

  Phonosemantic compound. ⺮ represents the meaning and 前 represents the sound.

Usage

光阴似箭，转眼间我们已经毕业十年了。

Time flies like an arrow; in the blink of an eye, we've already graduated for ten years.

Guāngyīn sì jiàn, zhuǎnyǎn jiān wǒmen yǐjīng bìyè shí nián le.