📖 Meaning
This idiom describes a mother's selfless devotion in raising her child. When a baby wets the bed, the mother places the infant in the dry spot and lies in the wet spot herself. It symbolizes the depth and sacrifice of parental love.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from the Dunhuang Bianwen (敦煌变文集), specifically the 'Parents' Kindness Sutra Lecture Text' (父母恩重经讲经文), a Tang Dynasty-era text discovered among the Dunhuang manuscripts. The passage vividly recounts the hardships a mother endures during ten months of pregnancy and three years of nursing, braving heat and cold at great physical cost. The line '回干就湿费心怀' praises the mother who willingly takes the wet spot so her child can sleep dry, pouring her heart into every detail of care. It stands as a classical expression of maternal sacrifice in Chinese culture.
💡 Example Usage
每念母亲回干就湿之恩，她便泪湿衣襟。
Whenever she recalled her mother's sacrifice of taking the wet spot so her child could sleep dry, tears would soak her garments.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 回干就湿
- Pinyin: huí gān jiù shī
- Literal Translation: switch to the dry, go to the wet
- Category: Morality
- Characters: 4