打铁趁热

打鐵趁熱
dǎtiěchènrè
idiom

Meanings

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

Examples

Tā dāyìng le, wǒmen dǎtiěchènrè bǎ hétong qiān le ba.
He's agreed — let's strike while the iron is hot and sign the contract.
Jīhuì nándé, bìxū dǎtiěchènrè.
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 (chènrèdǎtiě) is more common in mainland speech but means the same thing.

Stroke Order

tiě
chèn