出头之日

出頭之日

chūtóuzhīrì

idiom #31,124

Meanings

1 the day of getting one's head above water
2 the day one finally rises out of hardship; one's day in the sun

Characters

to come out, emerge

(literary possessive) of

Examples

他相信努力下去总有出头之日。

Tā xiāngxìn nǔlì xiàqù zǒng yǒu chūtóu zhī rì.

He believes that if he keeps working, his day will come.

在那种环境里，普通人很难有出头之日。

Zài nà zhǒng huánjìng lǐ, pǔtōng rén hěn nán yǒu chūtóu zhī rì.

In that kind of environment, ordinary people struggle to ever get their break.

Tips

history

Earliest documented in the Yuan-dynasty zaju 《庞涓夜走马陵道》 (Pang Juan Flees by Night on the Road of Mount Maling): 'I don't know when I'll have my day of breaking through.' By the Qing novel 《官场现形记》 it had become a stock phrase. Visual: a swimmer trapped underwater finally surfacing.

usage

Often appears in the negative: 没有出头之日 'no day of relief in sight', 永无出头之日 'will never have one's day'. The opposite vibe of 暗无天日 ànwú tiānrì ('dark days with no sun').

Stroke Order

出 chū

头 tóu

之 zhī

日 rì