📖 Meaning
A metaphor for a harmonious and intimate relationship between people, as natural and inseparable as fish and water. It describes deep mutual affection and compatibility, often used for close bonds between spouses, friends, or partners.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from the Ming dynasty work 'Jingshi Tongyan' (Stories to Caution the World), Volume 2, by the writer Feng Menglong. The passage describes Tian Shi, a woman of exceptional beauty with skin like ice and snow and grace like an immortal, who became the wife of the philosopher Zhuangzi. Although Zhuangzi was not a man driven by lust, he treated his wife with great respect, and the two lived together in such perfect harmony that they were 'truly like fish and water.' The phrase thus became a classical expression for an affectionate and inseparable bond.
💡 Example Usage
他们两人结婚多年,依然如鱼似水,恩爱如初。
After many years of marriage, the two remain as close as fish and water, still as loving as when they first met.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 如鱼似水
- Pinyin: rú yú sì shuǐ
- Literal Translation: like, fish, like, water
- Category: Emotion
- Characters: 4