断港绝潢

斷港絕潢

duàngǎngjuéhuáng

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

这条研究路线已成断港绝潢,必须另谋他途。

Zhè tiáo yánjiū lùxiàn yǐ chéng duàngǎngjuéhuáng, bìxū lìng móu tā tú.

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

脱离实际的理论无异于断港绝潢。

Tuōlí shíjì de lǐlùn wú yì yú duàngǎngjuéhuáng.

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