📖 Meaning
The day is growing late and the road has come to an end. It metaphorically describes a situation where one has reached a dead end, with no way forward and resources or options completely exhausted. Often used to depict a person or organization in an extremely dire and hopeless predicament.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase traces back to the Shiji (Records of the Grand Historian), where Wu Zixu of the Spring and Autumn period lamented, 'The day is late and the road is long,' explaining why he resorted to desperate, unconventional actions to avenge his father. The expression was later refined into its current four-character form by the Tang dynasty poet Du Fu in his poem 'Twenty Couplets Presented to Governor Ge Shuhan,' where he wrote that after years of fading prospects like spring grass dying away, he had finally reached the end of his road at dusk. Over the centuries, the idiom came to symbolize being cornered with no remaining options.
💡 Example Usage
这个曾经辉煌的企业如今日暮途穷，濒临破产的边缘。
This once-glorious enterprise has now reached the end of its road, on the verge of bankruptcy.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 日暮途穷
- Pinyin: rì mù tú qióng
- Literal Translation: sun, dusk, road, exhausted
- Category: Condition
- Characters: 4