Definify.com

Definition 2024

臥薪嘗膽

臥薪嘗膽

See also: 卧薪尝胆

Chinese

{| style="clear: right;margin: 1em;border-collapse: collapse;text-align: center"

|- ! !to lie; to crouch !fuel; salary

!

 
to taste; flavor; indicator of past tense; already; ever; once; test; formerly

!

 
the gall; the nerve; courage; guts; gall bladder

|- !trad. (臥薪嘗膽/臥薪嚐膽) | 臥 | 薪 | 嘗/嚐 | 膽 |- !simp. (卧薪尝胆) | 卧 | 薪 | 尝 | 胆 |- !Literally: “to sleep on brushwood and taste gall”. |}

Idiom

臥薪嘗膽

  1. to undergo self-imposed hardships; to nurse vengeance; to endure hardships to accomplish some ambition

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (臥薪嘗膽):
  • Japanese: 臥薪嘗胆 (がしんしょうたん) ‎(gashinshōtan)
  • Korean: 와신상담 (臥薪嘗膽, wasinsangdam)
  • Vietnamese: ngọa tân thường đảm ‎(臥薪嘗膽)

Etymology

From the story of the King Goujian of Yue [5th BCE], who forced himself to sleep on firewood and lick a gallbladder everyday to remember the humiliation of his previous defeat.

Pronunciation

Similar Results