强扭的瓜不甜 / 強扭的瓜不甜

qiǎng​niǔ​de​guā​bù​tián

forced results are not rewarding

Literally "a melon forced off the vine is not sweet"; used as a metaphor to mean that if something is not meant to be, or if someone is coerced into doing something, the outcome will not be satisfying or successful.

强 (literal) → 强/強 · qiǎng · to force 扭 (literal) → 扭 · niǔ · to twist 的 (literal) → 的 · de · [possessive/attributive] 瓜 (literal) → 瓜 · guā · melon 不 (literal) → 不 · bù · not 甜 (literal) → 甜 · tián · sweet

Changed: simplified, traditional, gloss, definition, pinyin, variant pinyin, variants, separable parts, decomposition

created sense May 20, 2026, 07:58 PM