Chinese word dictionary

相濡以沫

xiāng rú yǐ mò · lit. (of fish) to moisten each other with spittle (when out of the water) (idiom); fig. to share meager resources and support each other in times of difficulty

Practice word

Word information

Simplified相濡以沫

Traditional相濡以沫

Pinyinxiāng rú yǐ mò

Part of speechDictionary

HSK 3.0Not listed

HSK 2.0Not listed

Character breakdown

Study each Hanzi separately, then return to the complete word so pronunciation, meaning, and movement stay connected.

相xiāng

mutual, reciprocal; equal; each other

濡rú

to moisten, to immerse; wet, damp

以yǐ

according to; so as to; because of; then

沫mò

bubbles, foam, froth, suds

How to learn 相濡以沫

Listen once without reading, repeat the pinyin with its tones, then write every character in sequence. Finally, recall the complete meaning instead of memorizing each character as an isolated translation.

When the word appears in a sentence, check whether its part of speech and meaning match the definition shown here. Chinese words can change nuance with context.

Related vocabulary

Words with the same characters

Compare how a familiar Hanzi changes meaning inside another word.

可以kěyǐ

can; may; possible; able to; not bad; pretty good

所以suǒyǐ

therefore; as a result; so; the reason why

相信xiāngxìn

to believe; to be convinced; to accept as true

相机xiàngjī

camera (abbr. for 照相機|照相机[zhao4 xiang4 ji1]); at the opportune moment; as the circumstances allow

以后yǐhòu

after; later; afterwards; following; later on; in the future

以前yǐqián

before; formerly; previous; ago