后悔药

後悔藥
hòuhuǐyào
noun #34,497

Measure Word

Meanings

  1. 1 regret medicine (figurative — a fictitious cure that would let you undo regret)
  2. 2 second chance

Examples

Shìshàng méiyǒu hòuhuǐyào.
There's no such thing as a regret pill in this world.
Zǎo zhīdao dāngchū jiù bú nàme zuò le — kěxī méiyǒu hòuhuǐyào mài.
Had I known, I wouldn't have done it — too bad there's no regret medicine for sale.

Tips

culture
Set saying: 世上没有后悔药 (there is no regret medicine in this world). It is the everyday Chinese equivalent of 'no use crying over spilled milk' — a way of telling someone (or yourself) that you can't undo a past mistake.
register
Colloquial and figurative — never literal. Almost always appears as 没有后悔药/, framed as something that would be wonderful if it existed.

Stroke Order

hòu
huǐ
yào