📖 Meaning
After enduring hardships, good times finally come. It describes the moment when suffering gives way to happiness or reward. The idiom expresses confidence that difficulties are temporary and will eventually be followed by better fortune.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom derives from classical Buddhist and Confucian thought emphasizing the cycle of hardship and reward. It appears in various Song dynasty literary works and vernacular fiction, such as Yuanqu (元曲) dramas, where characters who endure suffering are ultimately rewarded. The phrasing reflects the ancient Chinese philosophical belief that yin and yang alternate — that bitterness and sweetness are natural phases of life's cycle.
💡 Example Usage
经过三年的艰苦创业，公司终于扭亏为盈，真是苦尽甘来。
After three grueling years of building the business from scratch, the company finally turned a profit — truly, sweetness followed bitterness.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 苦尽甘来
- Pinyin: kǔ jìn gān lái
- Literal Translation: bitterness exhausted, sweetness arrives
- Category: Recovery
- Characters: 4