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风吹雨打 (fēng chuī-yǔ dǎ) — to undergo hardship, to suffer trials and tribulations; (literal) to be battered by wind and rain

Definition

Literally 'wind blowing, rain beating' — describes enduring hardship or being battered by trials. Differs from 风雨无阻, which means pushing on through bad weather despite obstacles.

phrase
to undergo hardship, to suffer trials and tribulations(literal) to be battered by wind and rain

Examples

  • 风吹雨打，。
    Jīng guò duō nián de fēng chuī-yǔ dǎ, tā biàn de fēi cháng jiān qiáng.
    After years of hardship, he became very strong.
  • 风吹雨打。
    Zhè kē xiǎo shù zài fēng chuī-yǔ dǎ zhōng zhǎng chéng le dà shù.
    This small tree grew into a big one under the battering of wind and rain.
  • 风吹雨打，。
    Rén shēng nán miǎn huì yù dào fēng chuī-yǔ dǎ, zhòng yào de shì yǒng gǎn miàn duì.
    Life inevitably encounters hardships; what matters is facing them bravely.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

风吹wind blows
风fēngwind吹chuīblow
主谓Subject + predicate
雨打rain beats
雨yǔrain打dǎbeat
主谓Subject + predicate

风吹 and 雨打 describe wind blowing and rain beating, together meaning hardship.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 风 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

吹 pairs 口 (mouth) with 欠 (blow), giving the picture of air being blown from the mouth.

Open 吹 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape 雨 is an old picture of a cloud with rain drops falling from it; the top line was added later.

Open 雨 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
扌Written in full as手shǒuhand
Sound part声符shēngfú
丁
丁dīng打dǎ
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

打 uses 扌, a hand, to show an action done with the hand, and 丁 to give the sound.

Open 打 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.