DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

借酒澆愁

简借酒浇愁 · 繁借酒澆愁

Mandarin · pinyin jiè jiǔ jiāo chóu

(idiom) to drown one's sorrows

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

借: jiè · borrow; lend; make pretext of
酒: jiǔ · wine, spirits, liquor, alcoholic beverage
澆: Look up this written character
愁: chóu · anxiety; to worry about, be anxious
浇: jiāo · spray, water, sprinkle

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

4–3–1–2 · jie4 jiu3 jiao1 chou2

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

4character links

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

借酒澆愁 · find source passages ↗ · 借酒浇愁 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

(idiomatic) to drown one's sorrows

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack