📖 Meaning
To endure all kinds of hardships and suffering. It describes someone who bears great difficulties patiently, often for the sake of others or a higher purpose, without complaint.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom traces its roots to Song dynasty literature, where both 含辛 and 茹苦 appeared independently in earlier classical texts such as the Book of Songs (诗经) and Songs of Chu (楚辞). The combined form 含辛茹苦 became widely used in Song-era writings to describe the suffering of parents raising children or the hardships of devoted service. It has since become a standard idiom for patient endurance of adversity.
💡 Example Usage
母亲含辛茹苦地把我们兄妹三人拉扯大，从没抱怨过一句。
My mother endured untold hardships to raise the three of us, yet never uttered a single complaint.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 含辛茹苦
- Pinyin: hán xīn rú kǔ
- Literal Translation: contain, bitter, eat, bitterness
- Category: Perseverance
- Characters: 4