📖 Meaning
Literally describing fish stranded out of water that moisten each other with their exhaled breath. It is a metaphor for people helping one another with whatever meager strength they possess during times of hardship and adversity. The idiom emphasizes persevering together through dire circumstances rather than abandoning one another.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from the Daoist classic Zhuangzi (庄子), chapter 'The Great and Venerable Teacher' (大宗师), written by the philosopher Zhuang Zhou during the Warring States period. The passage describes fish trapped in a dried-up spring, stranded together on land, moistening each other with their breath to survive. Zhuangzi uses this poignant image to contrast the noble but small-scale mutual aid in desperate conditions with the Daoist ideal of living freely in one's natural element. The Tang dynasty scholar Cheng Xuanying (成玄英) further glossed the phrase in his commentary, noting that the fish exhale moisture upon one another.
💡 Example Usage
在困境中，他们相呴以湿，共渡难关。
In their time of hardship, they helped one another with what little they had and weathered the crisis together.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 相呴以湿
- Pinyin: xiāng xǔ yǐ shī
- Literal Translation: mutually, breathe out, with, moisture
- Category: Philosophy
- Characters: 4