📖 Meaning
To endure hardship and suffering with patience and perseverance. It describes someone who bears all kinds of difficulties and bitterness without complaint. It is equivalent to the idiom 含辛茹苦.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from 'Slapping the Table in Amazement, Second Collection' (二刻拍案惊奇), Volume 20, a Ming Dynasty short story collection by Ling Mengchu (凌濛初). The passage describes a merchant family who, when wronged, could not even voice their suspicions openly. They had no choice but to swallow their grievances and endure their suffering in silent regret and resentment, with no means of redress. Over time, the phrase came to broadly describe anyone enduring hardship and bitterness with quiet forbearance.
💡 Example Usage
母亲含辛忍苦地将几个孩子拉扯长大。
The mother endured untold hardships to raise her several children and bring them up.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 含辛忍苦
- Pinyin: hán xīn rěn kǔ
- Literal Translation: tasting bitterness, enduring hardship
- Category: Perseverance
- Characters: 4