Definition
泥潭 (ní tán) literally 'muddy pit' — a deep, muddy trap, used both for a physical bog and a hopeless situation one can't escape from. 淤泥 (yū ní) refers to the sticky mud (silt/sludge) itself; figuratively it also means a mire, but focuses on the thick, clinging sediment rather than the deep hole.
noun
quagmiremuddy bog
Examples
- ，泥潭。Bàoyǔ guòhòu, zhè tiáo lù biàn chéng le yí gè ní tán.After the rainstorm, this road turned into a quagmire.
- 泥潭，。Gōngsī xiàn rù le cáiwù ní tán, nányǐ tuōshēn.The company has fallen into a financial quagmire and can hardly extricate itself.
- 泥潭。Bié bǎ jiǎndān de wèntí biàn chéng yí gè ní tán.Don't turn a simple problem into a quagmire.
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