阴沟里翻船
yīn​gōu​lǐ​fān​chuán

to fail unexpectedly

  • created sense approved 阴沟里翻船/陰溝裡翻船 · yīn​gōu​lǐ​fān​chuán · to fail unexpectedly — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    阴沟里翻船 / 陰溝裡翻船

    yīn​gōu​lǐ​fān​chuán

    to fail unexpectedly

    to meet with unexpected failure in an easy or familiar situation; to suffer a setback where success seemed certain

    yīn​gōu​li​fān​chuán

    阴沟 (literal) → 阴沟/陰溝 · yīn​gōu · sewer 里 (bound) → 里/裡 · li · in 翻船 (literal) → 翻船 · fān​chuán · to fail

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

    created sense