Definition

1. Idiom:
   • Unexpected reunion of old friends or lovers: A poetic idiom describing a chance, serendipitous, and often emotionally resonant meeting between people (like old friends or former lovers) after a long separation. It evokes the image of two water plants (duckweed) floating on water, meeting again by chance.
   • A fortuitous encounter: Emphasizes the element of luck and fate in the meeting, which was not pre-arranged.

Usage Examples

• Idiom:
  • Sau hai mươi năm xa cách, cuộc gặp gỡ của họ đúng là bình thuỷ tương phùng. (After twenty years apart, their meeting was a true unexpected reunion.)
  • Tôi không ngờ lại gặp cô ấy ở đây, thật là bình thuỷ tương phùng. (I never expected to meet her here; it was such a fortuitous encounter.)

Advanced Usage

• This idiom is highly literary and poetic. It is used in formal writing, literature, or emotional speech to elevate a description of a chance meeting. It is not used in casual, everyday conversation.

Variants and Related Words

• Bèo nước gặp nhau: A more common, proverbial phrase with the same core meaning: "like duckweed meeting on water," implying a chance reunion.
  • Họ gặp lại nhau như bèo nước gặp nhau. (They met again as if by sheer chance.)

Synonyms

• Serendipitous reunion: A fortunate and unexpected meeting.
• Chance encounter: A meeting that happens by accident.
• Fortuitous meeting: A meeting occurring by happy chance.

Related Idioms

• Hữu duyên thiên lý năng tương ngộ: (Predestined affinity can bring together those a thousand miles apart.) This phrase complements "bình thuỷ tương phùng" by adding the layer of destined connection to the chance meeting.