📖 Meaning
Like pouring hot water on snow — melting it instantly. It is a metaphor for something being extremely easy to resolve or accomplish. The phrase vividly conveys how a difficult problem dissolves effortlessly.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom originates from 'Qi Fa' (Seven Stimuli), a famous prose work by the Han dynasty writer Mei Sheng (枚乘). In the text, the phrase describes how eating small mouthfuls and drinking large gulps clears the palate as easily as hot water melts snow. Over time, the image was generalized to describe any task that is solved with remarkable ease.
💡 Example Usage
有了这份详细计划，解决眼前的难题简直如汤沃雪。
With this detailed plan in hand, solving the problem at hand was as easy as melting snow with hot water.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 如汤沃雪
- Pinyin: rú tāng wò xuě
- Literal Translation: like, hot water, pour, snow
- Category: Success
- Characters: 4