10 Untranslatable Chinese Idioms - Concepts That Don't Exist in English
Chinese idioms with no English equivalent - unique cultural concepts that reveal how Chinese sees the world differently.
Some Chinese idioms express concepts so unique that no English equivalent exists. These untranslatable expressions reveal how Chinese culture sees the world differently - and expand how you think about language itself.
一波三折
yī bō sān zhéMany twists and turns
Literal: One wave three turns
Wang Xizhi, writing on brush method, said that in making a single wave-stroke (一波) the brush turns three times (三折) — the long diagonal that ends a character is not one movement but three changes of direction, and a stroke drawn straight is dead. The phrase left calligraphy for narrative and now des...
Example
Their journey to success had many unexpected challenges
他们的成功之路经历了许多意想不到的挑战
改邪归正
gǎi xié guī zhèngReturn to righteousness
Literal: Turn from wrong return to right
Turning away (改) from what is wrong (邪) and returning (归) to what is right (正). The force sits in 归: rightness is treated as the place a person came from and can go back to, not somewhere new they have to be argued into. Vernacular fiction and drama supply the phrase, and there it marks a moment rat...
Example
After the scandal, the company implemented strict ethical guidelines
在丑闻之后，公司实施了严格的道德准则
物极必反
wù jí bì fǎnPush far enough and it turns
Literal: Things at extreme reverse
When a thing (物) reaches its extreme (极) it must (必) turn back (反). The formula is put most plainly in the Lüshi Chunqiu, which argues that the ruler should not occupy the complete, the extreme or the full, because what is complete will be broken, what is extreme will reverse, and what is full will ...
Example
After the market peaked, a correction was inevitable
市场达到顶峰后，调整是不可避免的
塞翁失马
sài wēng shī mǎMisfortune might be a blessing
Literal: Old man loses horse
The Huainanzi tells of a man living out by the frontier, known ever since as the Old Man of the Frontier — 塞翁, from 塞, a border pass, and 翁, an old man. His horse (马) was lost (失), simply ran off. His neighbours came to console him and he asked how they knew it was not good fortune; the horse return...
Example
Losing his job led him to find his true calling
失业反而让他找到了真正的使命
近水楼台
jìn shuǐ lóu táiAdvantage from close connections
Literal: Pavilion close to water
Su Lin, a minor officer under Fan Zhongyan, was passed over while Fan promoted others around him, and presented a couplet instead of a complaint: 近水楼台先得月，向阳花木易为春 — the tower (楼台) nearest (近) the water (水) gets the moon first, and flowers facing the sun come to spring early. Fan took the point and pr...
Example
Living in the city gave her more career opportunities
住在城市给了她更多的职业机会
夜郎自大
yè láng zì dàOverestimate oneself
Literal: Small kingdom thinks itself great
Yelang (夜郎) was a small state on the southwestern frontier of the Han empire. The Records of the Grand Historian relates that when a Han envoy reached it, its king asked whether Yelang or Han was the larger — a question that makes sense only to someone who has never left his own valley. The phrase f...
Example
Having never left his small town, he thought his local success made him world-class
从未离开过小城镇的他，以为本地的成功就意味着世界级水平
因果报应
yīn guǒ bào yìngGood and evil deeds repaid in kind
Literal: Cause and effect return
Cause (因), effect (果), and the returning repayment (报应). The vocabulary is Buddhist and entered Chinese with the translated sutras, bringing with it a moral mechanics quite different from the older Chinese idea of heaven's mandate: consequence here is impersonal, exact, and not necessarily settled w...
Example
His kindness to others eventually came back to benefit him
他对他人的善意最终回报到了他身上
春风化雨
chūn fēng huà yǔGentle, nurturing influence
Literal: Spring wind and nurturing rain
This is from the Mencius, which counts among a teacher's modes the one who transforms a student as a timely rain does — the spring wind (春风) and the rain that transforms (化雨). Nothing is forced; the growth is the student's own, and the teacher supplies the conditions. It is reserved for education ra...
Example
The teacher's patient guidance slowly transformed the struggling student
老师耐心的引导慢慢改变了这个困难学生
水到渠成
shuǐ dào qú chéngSuccess comes naturally
Literal: Water comes channel forms
Su Shi wrote it to a friend who was worrying ahead of events: when the water arrives (水到) the channel forms (渠成), there is no need to plan for it in advance. The image is of water finding its own course rather than an engineer cutting one. What the phrase claims is not that effort is unnecessary but...
Example
Once the market was ready, their product gained popularity effortlessly
一旦市场成熟，他们的产品自然获得了欢迎
饮水思源
yǐn shuǐ sī yuánRemember your roots
Literal: Drink water think source
Yu Xin, writing in the sixth century, put it as 落其实者思其树，饮其流者怀其源 — who eats the fruit thinks of the tree, who drinks from the stream remembers its source. The four-character form keeps the second half: drink (饮) the water (水), think (思) of the source (源). It concerns debts owed rather than gratitude ...
Example
After achieving success, she created a scholarship at her old school
在成功之后，她在母校设立了奖学金
Quick Reference
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