打铁趁热

打鐵趁熱
dǎtiě-chènrè
idiom

Meanings

  1. 1 strike while the iron is hot
  2. 2 seize the moment

Examples

HSK 5
Tā dāying le, wǒmen dǎtiě-chènrè bǎ hétong qiān le ba.
He's agreed - let's strike while the iron is hot and sign the contract.
HSK 5
Jīhuì nándé, bìxū dǎtiě-chènrè.
The opportunity is rare - we have to strike while the iron is hot.

Tips

memory
Same metaphor as English 'strike while the iron is hot' - a blacksmith can only shape iron while it glows red. The variant 趁热打铁 is more common in mainland speech but means the same thing.

Stroke Order

tiě
chèn