磨砺

磨礪

mólì

verb #36,148

Meanings

1 to sharpen on a grindstone
2 to hone (skills, character) through training and hardship

Characters

to grind, polish

Examples

艰难的环境磨砺了他的意志。

Jiānnán de huánjìng mólì le tā de yìzhì.

Tough circumstances tempered his will.

他在工作中不断磨砺自己。

Tā zài gōngzuò zhōng búduàn mólì zìjǐ.

He keeps honing himself in his work.

Tips

memory

Both 磨 (mó, 'to grind') and 砺 (lì, 'whetstone') refer to sharpening. Originally about literally grinding a blade against stone, the word now mostly describes character-building hardship — like English 'to be tempered' or 'to be forged'.

Stroke Order

磨 mó

砺 lì