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水漲船高

简水涨船高 · 繁水漲船高

Mandarin · pinyin shuǐ zhǎng chuán gāo

the tide rises, the boat floats (idiom); fig. to change with the overall trend
to develop according to the situation

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Characters in this entry

水: shuǐ · water, liquid, lotion, juice
漲: Look up this written character
船: chuán · ship, boat, vessel
高: gāo · high, tall; lofty, elevated; Kangxi radical 189
涨: zhǎng · rise in price

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

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Mandarin tones

3–3–2–1 · shui3 zhang3 chuan2 gao1

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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.

水漲船高 · find source passages ↗ · 水涨船高 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

seoi2 zoeng3 syun4 gou1

Cantonese word readings for 水漲船高. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

phrase

(idiomatic) a thing grows as its foundation grows

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

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