卧薪尝胆

Pronunciation: wò xīn cháng dǎn Literal meaning: Sleep on firewood, taste gall

Origin & Usage

Goujian of Yue, beaten and made to serve Fuchai of Wu, was let home and set about not forgetting it. The Records of the Grand Historian describes what he did: he hung a gall bladder (胆) where he sat, and looked up at it whenever he sat or lay down, and tasted (尝) it before every meal. The brushwood is not in that account — 卧薪, sleeping (卧) on firewood (薪), attached itself to the story later, and the four characters together first turn up in a Song essay of Su Shi's, written in the voice of Sun Quan. Goujian did destroy Wu, twenty years on.

Examples

English: "After losing the championship, the athlete trained with extraordinary dedication for years to finally win"

Chinese: 失去冠军后，这位运动员多年来以非凡的奉献精神训练，最终获胜