📖 Meaning
A heavy rain that falls like water poured from a gourd dipper. It describes rain coming down in torrents, extremely heavy and intense. The phrase vividly conveys the overwhelming force of a downpour.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from Zhou Libo's novel Hurricane (暴风骤雨), Part One, Chapter Twelve, published in 1948. The passage describes dark clouds gathering in the northwest sky, followed shortly by torrential rain accompanied by thunder and lightning. Because it rained frequently, the roads were always muddy and people had to walk barefoot along the road edges. The phrase has since become a common expression for extremely heavy rainfall in modern Chinese.
💡 Example Usage
一阵瓢泼大雨过后，街道上积满了水。
After a bout of torrential rain, the streets were flooded with water.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 瓢泼大雨
- Pinyin: piáo pō dà yǔ
- Literal Translation: gourd dipper, pour, big, rain
- Category: Condition
- Characters: 4