滑铁卢

滑鐵盧

Huátiělú

noun #17,350

Meanings

1 Waterloo (city in Belgium)
2 (fig.) a crushing defeat

Characters

slippery; to slide

Phonetic transliteration of 'Waterloo'. The literal meaning of the characters is unrelated.

Examples

拿破仑在滑铁卢战败了。

Nápòlún zài Huátiělú zhànbài le.

Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo.

这次考试成了他的滑铁卢。

Zhè cì kǎoshì chéng le tā de Huátiělú.

This exam turned out to be his Waterloo.

Tips

culture

In Chinese, 遭遇滑铁卢 (zāoyù Huátiělú) means 'to meet one's Waterloo' — suffering an unexpected, decisive defeat. Very common in sports and business commentary.

Stroke Order

滑 huá

铁 tiě

卢 lú