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

  1. like rowing a boat upstream, if you stop moving forward you fall back (idiom)
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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
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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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.

逆水行舟,不進則退 · find source passages ↗ · 逆水行舟,不进则退 · find source passages ↗

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逆水行舟,不進則退 · ni4 shui3 xing2 zhou1 , bu4 jin4 ze2 tui4
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 107,617
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record逆水行舟,不進則退 逆水行舟,不进则退 [ni4 shui3 xing2 zhou1 , bu4 jin4 ze2 tui4] /like rowing a boat upstream, if you stop moving forward you fall back (idiom)/