滚雪球

滾雪球

gǔnxuěqiú

verb #37,705

Meanings

1 to roll a snowball
2 to snowball; to grow exponentially (figurative)

Characters

Examples

孩子们在公园里滚雪球。

Háizimen zài gōngyuán lǐ gǔn xuěqiú.

The kids are rolling snowballs in the park.

他的财富像滚雪球一样越滚越大。

Tā de cáifù xiàng gǔn xuěqiú yīyàng yuè gǔn yuè dà.

His wealth grew bigger and bigger like a rolling snowball.

如果不及时处理，问题会滚雪球。

Rúguǒ bù jíshí chǔlǐ, wèntí huì gǔn xuěqiú.

If we don't deal with it in time, the problem will snowball.

Tips

usage

The figurative sense — wealth, debt, problems, or fanbases growing exponentially as they pick up momentum — is now more common in writing than the literal "roll a snowball." Warren Buffett's famous quote about compounding ("life is like a snowball") gave 滚雪球 a permanent home in Chinese investing literature.

Stroke Order

滚 gǔn

雪 xuě

球 qiú