断港绝潢

斷港絕潢

duàngǎng-juéhuáng

idiom

Meanings

1 a dead end
2 to be unable to continue
3 a road leading nowhere

Characters

to break, cut off

to sever, exhaust

Examples

HSK 7-9

这条研究路线已成断港绝潢，必须另谋他途。

Zhè tiáo yánjiū lùxiàn yǐ chéng duàngǎng-juéhuáng, bìxū lìng móu tā tú.

This line of research has hit a dead end; we must seek another path.

HSK 7-9

脱离实际的理论无异于断港绝潢。

Tuōlí shíjì de lǐlùn wúyìyú duàngǎng-juéhuáng.

Theory divorced from practice is no different from a dead-end channel.

Tips

history

From Han Yu's (韩愈) Tang-dynasty essay 《送王秀才序》, where he warns scholars who stray from the orthodox path of learning that they end up in 'broken harbors and cut-off pools' - water that doesn't flow to the sea. The phrase has since meant any pursuit that leads nowhere.

memory

Visualize: 断 (broken) 港 (harbor) 绝 (cut off) 潢 (pool) - a stagnant inlet with no outlet. Once you picture the trapped water, the meaning sticks.

Stroke Order

断 duàn

港 gǎng

绝 jué

潢 huáng