fù​shuǐ​nán​shōu

what's done is done

  • created sense approved 覆水难收/覆水難收 · fù​shuǐ​nán​shōu · what's done is done — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    覆水难收 / 覆水難收

    fù​shuǐ​nán​shōu

    what's done is done

    water spilled on the ground cannot be recovered; used to describe a situation that has reached a point where it cannot be undone or reversed; no use crying over spilt milk

    覆 (literal) → 复/覆 · fù · to overturn 水 (literal) → 水 · shuǐ · water 难 (literal) → 难/難 · nán · difficult 收 (literal) → 收 · shōu · to collect

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

    created sense

  • created sense approved 覆水难收/覆水難收 · fù​shuǐ​nán​shōu · irrevocable divorce — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    覆水难收 / 覆水難收

    fù​shuǐ​nán​shōu

    irrevocable divorce

    metaphor for a divorced woman being unable to reunite with her ex-husband, based on historical anecdotes of figures like [[姜子牙|姜子牙|jiang1 zi3 ya2]] or [[朱买臣|朱買臣|zhu1 mai3 chen2]]

    覆 (literal) → 复/覆 · fù · to overturn 水 (literal) → 水 · shuǐ · water 难 (literal) → 难/難 · nán · difficult 收 (literal) → 收 · shōu · to collect

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

    created sense