忆苦思甜
yì​kǔ​sī​tián

to recall the past and value the present

  • created sense approved 忆苦思甜/憶苦思甜 · yì​kǔ​sī​tián · to recall the past and value the present — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    忆苦思甜 / 憶苦思甜

    yì​kǔ​sī​tián

    to recall the past and value the present

    to contrast the misery of the past (often specifically the pre-1949 "old society") with the happiness of the present; to reflect on past sufferings so as to better appreciate the hard-won happiness of life in the new society

    忆 (literal) → 忆/憶 · yì · to recall 苦 (literal) → 苦 · kǔ · hardship 思 (literal) → 思 · sī · to miss 甜 (literal) → 甜 · tián · pleasant

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

    created sense