lit. either the fish dies or the net gets torn (idiom); fig. it's a life-and-death struggle; it's either him or me
trad. 不是魚死就是網破
Also written 不是魚死就是網破【bù shì yú sǐ jiù shì wǎng pò】
Characters in this word
7不
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
no; not so, (bound form) not; un-
- Pinyin
- bù
- Strokes
- 4
- Frequency
- 9 of 2500
是
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
to be (followed by substantives only), correct; right; true, (respectful acknowledgement of a command) very well, (adverb for emphatic assertion)
- Pinyin
- shì
- Strokes
- 9
- Frequency
- 5 of 2500
鱼
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
surname Yu
- Pinyin
- Yú
- Traditional
- 魚
- Strokes
- 8
- Frequency
- 1545 of 2500
死
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
to die, impassable, uncrossable, inflexible, rigid, extremely, damned
- Pinyin
- sǐ
- Strokes
- 6
- Frequency
- 113 of 2500
就
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
(after a suppositional clause) in that case; then, (after a clause of action) as soon as; immediately after, (same as 就是[jiu4 shi4]) merely; nothing else but; simply; just; precisely; exactly, only; as little as, as much as; as many as, to approach; to move towards, to undertake; to engage in, (often followed by 著|着[zhe5]) taking advantage of, (of food) to go with, with regard to; concerning, (bound form) to reach; to attain (as in 一蹴而就[yi1 cu4 er2 jiu4]), (pattern: 就[jiu4] ... 也[ye3] ...) even if ... still ..., (pattern: 不[bu4] ... 就[jiu4] ...) if not ... then must be ...
- Pinyin
- jiù
- Strokes
- 12
- Frequency
- 14 of 2500
网
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
net; web, network, to net; to catch with a net
- Pinyin
- wǎng
- Traditional
- 網
- Strokes
- 6
- Frequency
- 8550 of 2500
破
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
broken, damaged, worn out, lousy, rotten, to break, split or cleave, to get rid of, to destroy, to break with, to defeat, to capture (a city etc), to expose the truth of
- Pinyin
- pò
- Strokes
- 10
- Frequency
- 2217 of 2500