食荼卧棘 — “Eat bitter herbs, sleep on thorns”
食荼卧棘 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to live an extremely hard and primitive life, enduring great difficulties and privations; to subsist on meagre resources and in harsh conditions”. Literally, “Eat bitter herbs, sleep on thorns”.
食荼卧棘 Pronunciation and Pinyin
食荼卧棘 Character Breakdown
Stroke OrderExample Sentence with 食荼卧棘
Idioms Related to 食荼卧棘
More idioms starting with 食
- shí食bù不xià下yàn咽too distraught to eat
- shí食bù不èr二wèi味eat simply with only one dish
- shí食bù不chōng充kǒu口unable to get enough food
- shí食bù不chōng充cháng肠not enough food to satisfy hunger
- shí食bù不chōng充jī饥barely enough food to survive
- shí食bù不jiān兼wèi味eat only one dish
- shí食bù不jiān兼ròu肉eat simply, limiting meat consumption
- shí食bù不yàn厌jīng精，，kuài脍bù不yàn厌xì细eat well-prepared refined food
- shí食bù不niàn念bǎo饱eat with moderation
- shí食bù不xiá暇bǎo饱too busy to eat properly
- shí食bù不guǒ果fù腹not have enough food to eat
- shí食bù不qiú求gān甘not seek delicious food
Recommended tools
Stroke Order Animator
Turn a Chinese character or sentence into a GIF or MP4
Open the tool →
Bingo Cards
Picture and word Bingo for your class
Open the tool →
Picture Worksheets
Chinese and English fill-in vocabulary worksheets
Open the tool →
Writing Worksheets
Printable tracing sheets with a QR learning companion
Open the tool →Questions about 食荼卧棘
What does 食荼卧棘 mean?
食荼卧棘 (shí tú wò jí) is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to live an extremely hard and primitive life, enduring great difficulties and privations; to subsist on meagre resources and in harsh conditions”.
How do you pronounce 食荼卧棘?
食荼卧棘 is pronounced shí tú wò jí in Mandarin Chinese.
What does 食荼卧棘 literally mean?
Literally, 食荼卧棘 means “Eat bitter herbs, sleep on thorns”. It is used to mean “to live an extremely hard and primitive life, enduring great difficulties and privations; to subsist on meagre resources and in harsh conditions”.
What is the Chinese definition of 食荼卧棘?
吃苦菜，睡粗草。形容初民的生活艰苦。