充饥止渴

充飢止渴

chōngjī-zhǐkě

idiom

Meanings

1 to satisfy hunger and quench thirst
2 to make do with the bare minimum to get by

Characters

Examples

路上只有几块饼干充饥止渴。

Lùshàng zhǐyǒu jǐ kuài bǐnggān chōngjī-zhǐkě.

On the road we only had a few biscuits to stave off hunger and thirst.

这点钱仅够充饥止渴而已。

Zhè diǎn qián jǐn gòu chōngjī-zhǐkě éryǐ.

This bit of money is only enough to keep body and soul together.

Tips

usage

Often appears in the figurative sense of making do or scraping by. Compare 望梅止渴 ('gaze at plums to quench thirst', imagined relief) and 画饼充饥 ('draw cakes to satisfy hunger', wishful thinking). 充饥止渴 is the unironic version.

Stroke Order

充 chōng

饥 jī

止 zhǐ

渴 kě