琴剑飘零

floating between zither and sword (idiom); fig. wandering aimlessly with no tenured position

guqin 古琴[gu3 qin2] (a type of zither) / musical instrument in general

variant of 琴[qin2], guqin or zither

double-edged sword / CL:口[kou3],把[ba3] / classifier for blows of a sword

variant of 劍|剑[jian4]

variant of 飄|飘[piao1]

to float

to fall and wither (like autumn leaves) / (fig.) drifting and homeless

zero / nought / zero sign / fractional / fragmentary / odd (of numbers) / (placed between two numbers to indicate a smaller quantity followed by a larger one) / fraction / (in mathematics) remainder (after division) / extra / to wither and fall / to wither