(lit.) to sleep on brushwood and taste gall (like King Goujian of Yue 勾踐|勾践[Gou1 jian4], in order to recall one's humiliations) (idiom); (fig.) to maintain one's resolve for revenge
trad. 臥薪嘗膽
Also written 臥薪嘗膽【wò xīn cháng dǎn】
Characters in this word
4卧
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
to lie, to crouch
- Pinyin
- wò
- Traditional
- 臥
- Strokes
- 8
薪
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
(literary) firewood; fuel, (bound form) salary
- Pinyin
- xīn
- Strokes
- 16
尝
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
to taste; to try (food), to experience, (literary) ever; once
- Pinyin
- cháng
- Traditional
- 嘗
- Strokes
- 9
- Frequency
- 8804 of 2500
胆
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
gall bladder, courage, guts, gall, inner container (e.g. bladder of a football, inner container of a thermos)
- Pinyin
- dǎn
- Traditional
- 膽
- Strokes
- 9
- Frequency
- 15530 of 2500