DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT
逆水行舟,不進則退
简 逆水行舟,不进则退 · 繁 逆水行舟,不進則退Mandarin · pinyin nì shuǐ xíng zhōu , bù jìn zé tuì
Meanings
- like rowing a boat upstream, if you stop moving forward you fall back (idiom)
Characters in this entry
- 逆
- nì · disobey, rebel; rebel, traitor
- 水
- shuǐ · water, liquid, lotion, juice
- 行
- xíng · go; walk; move, travel; circulate; Kangxi radical 144
- 舟
- zhōu · boat, ship; Kangxi radical 137
- 不
- bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
- 進
- jìn · advance, make progress, enter
- 則
- Look up this written character
- 退
- tuì · step back, retreat, withdraw
- 进
- jìn · advance, make progress, enter
- 则
- zé · rule, law, regulation; grades
Explore the spelling
Connected dictionary
9character links
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.
逆水行舟,不進則退 · find source passages ↗ · 逆水行舟,不进则退 · find source passages ↗