流水不腐，户枢不蠹
liú​shuǐ​bù​fǔ​hù​shū​bù​dù

constant activity prevents decay

  • created sense approved 流水不腐，户枢不蠹/流水不腐，戶樞不蠹 · liú​shuǐ​bù​fǔ​hù​shū​bù​dù · constant motion prevents decay — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    流水不腐，户枢不蠹 / 流水不腐，戶樞不蠹

    liú​shuǐ​bù​fǔ​hù​shū​bù​dù

    constant motion prevents decay

    running water does not go stale and a door hinge is never eaten by worms; implies that constant activity and movement prevent things from deteriorating

    流水 (literal) → 流水 · liú​shuǐ · running water 不 (literal) → 不 · bù · not 腐 (literal) → 腐 · fǔ · rotten ， (non_chinese) 户 (literal) → 户/戶 · hù · door 枢 (literal) → 枢/樞 · shū · pivot 不 (literal) → 不 · bù · not 蠹 (literal) → 蠹 · dù · to corrode

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

    created sense

  • created sense approved 流水不腐，户枢不蠹/流水不腐，戶樞不蠹 · liú​shuǐ​bù​fǔ​hù​shū​bù​dù · constant activity prevents decay — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    流水不腐，户枢不蠹 / 流水不腐，戶樞不蠹

    liú​shuǐ​bù​fǔ​hù​shū​bù​dù

    constant activity prevents decay

    literally 'flowing water does not rot, and a door hinge is never eaten by worms'; used as a metaphor for how things that stay active do not deteriorate and can maintain their vitality

    liú​shuǐ​bù​fǔ​hù​shū​bú​dù

    流水不腐 (literal) → 流水不腐 · liú​shuǐ​bù​fǔ · flowing water never goes bad ， (non_chinese) 户枢不蠹 (literal) → 户枢不蠹/戶樞不蠹 · hù​shū​bù​dù · constant activity prevents decay

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

    created sense