p8nda
p8nda BETA
Home Dictionary Discord

相濡以沫

xiāngrúyǐmò
idiom #39,095

Meanings

  1. 1 to moisten each other with spittle (like stranded fish)
  2. 2 to support and sustain each other in hard times

Examples

这对老夫妻一生相濡以沫。
Zhè duì lǎo fūqī yìshēng xiāngrúyǐmò.
This elderly couple supported each other through thick and thin their whole lives.
在最艰难的日子里，他们相濡以沫地活了下来。
Zài zuì jiānnán de rìzi lǐ, tāmen xiāngrúyǐmò de huó le xiàlái.
Through the hardest days, they survived by supporting each other.
他们虽然清贫，但相濡以沫，十分幸福。
Tāmen suīrán qīngpín, dàn xiāngrúyǐmò, shífēn xìngfú.
Though poor, they sustained each other in love and were very happy.

Tips

history
From 《庄子·大宗师》 (Zhuangzi, Warring States): 泉涸，鱼相与处于陆，相呴以湿，相濡以沫，不如相忘于江湖 — 'when the spring dries up, fish stranded on land moisten each other with damp breath and spit; better had they forgotten each other in the rivers and lakes.' The original point was paradoxical — true freedom is not needing mutual rescue — but modern usage keeps only the tender half.
usage
Almost always about long-enduring couples who weathered poverty or hardship together. The full Zhuangzi passage is sometimes quoted to invert the sentiment (不如相忘于江湖 — better to forget each other in freedom), but on its own the idiom is unambiguously warm.

Stroke Order

相 xiāng
濡 rú
以 yǐ
沫 mò