翻山越岭

Pronunciation: fān shān yuè lǐng Literal meaning: Cross mountains, pass ridges

Origin & Usage

Going over (翻) mountains (山) and across (越) ridges (岭). Both halves are the same kind of obstacle, unlike 跋山涉水 which pairs land with water, so what the phrase gives is a landscape that never changes — one ridge, and then another one. The repetition is the point, and it makes this the more exhausting of the two. Reaching somewhere genuinely remote — or a search or a delivery that took far longer than it should have.

Examples

English: "The postal workers delivered mail despite the mountainous terrain."

Chinese: 邮递员翻山越岭送信。