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雪上加霜

Mandarin · pinyin xuě shàng jiā shuāng

(idiom) to make matters even worse
to add insult to injury

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Characters in this entry

雪: xuě · snow; wipe away shame, avenge
上: shàng · top; superior, highest; go up, send up
加: jiā · add to, increase, augment
霜: shuāng · frost; crystallized; candied

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

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Mandarin tones

3–4–1–1 · xue3 shang4 jia1 shuang1

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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.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

syut3 soeng6 gaa1 soeng1

Cantonese word readings for 雪上加霜. 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

(figurative) to make a bad situation worse; to add insult to injury; to rub salt in the wound

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

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