📖 Meaning
To depend on each other for survival. It describes a relationship where two parties rely on one another so deeply that neither can live without the other. Often used for family members or close companions sharing a difficult life together.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from the 'Petition Expressing My Feelings' (陈情表), a famous memorial written by Li Mi of the Jin Dynasty. Li Mi was raised by his grandmother after his father died and his mother remarried. In the memorial, he wrote that without his grandmother, he could not have survived to this day, and without him, she could not live out her remaining years. The grandmother and grandson thus relied on each other for survival, giving rise to the phrase 相依为命.
💡 Example Usage
父子俩在山村中相依为命，度过了无数艰难岁月。
Father and son depended on each other for survival in the mountain village, enduring countless difficult years together.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 相依为命
- Pinyin: xiāng yī wéi mìng
- Literal Translation: mutually, rely on, as, life
- Category: Emotion
- Characters: 4