📖 Meaning
A metaphor for extreme suffering, likening the people's misery to being plunged into ever-deeper water and ever-hotter fire. It describes a populace living under unbearable hardship or oppression. The idiom conveys the depth and intensity of collective agony.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase originates from the Mencius (孟子), specifically the chapter '梁惠王下' (King Hui of Liang, Part II), composed during the Warring States period. In the text, Mencius is advising a ruler about rescuing a suffering populace, stating that the people's afflictions grow '如水益深，如火益热' — like water becoming ever deeper and fire ever hotter. Mencius argues that when a ruler brings relief to a tormented people, his rule is welcomed, much as one welcomes deliverance from drowning or burning. The idiom crystallizes this image of accumulating catastrophe into a single expression of severe national suffering.
💡 Example Usage
战争让无数平民陷入水深火热之中，流离失所。
The war plunged countless civilians into dire suffering, leaving them homeless and displaced.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 水深火热
- Pinyin: shuǐ shēn huǒ rè
- Literal Translation: water, deep, fire, hot
- Category: Condition
- Characters: 4