IdiomNature
Chinese
Chinese雪上加霜 (Xuě shàng jiā shuāng)
Meaning: To make a bad situation even worse.
Literally: To add frost on top of snow
Example: “车坏了，又下起大雨，真是雪上加霜。” — The car broke down, and then it poured; it only added fuel to the fire.
English equivalent: To add fuel to the fire
Equivalents in other languages
French: Jeter de l'huile sur le feu Literally: To throw oil on the fire
Spanish: Echar leña al fuego Literally: To throw wood on the fire
English: add fuel to the fire
Origin: Frost settling on snow that has already fallen makes the cold worse. The phrase is found in Chan Buddhist writings of the Song dynasty, such as the Jingde Chuandeng Lu (1004), and now means one misfortune piled on another, like English "add insult to injury."
More Chinese idioms
- 五十步笑百步 (Wǔshí bù xiào bǎi bù) Mocking someone for a fault you share, only to a lesser degree.
- 得不偿失 (Dé bù cháng shī) What you gain is less than what it costs you.
- 对牛弹琴 (duì niú tán qín) Reasoning with someone who cannot understand.
- 画蛇添足 (huà shé tiān zú) To ruin something by adding unnecessary extras.
- 鸡同鸭讲 (jī tóng yā jiǎng) Complete miscommunication; talking past each other.
- 脱裤子放屁 (tuō kùzi fàng pì) Doing something completely unnecessary and pointless.
Explore another collection: Untranslatable Words
Words that capture a feeling or idea English needs a whole sentence for.
- Komorebi The dappled light that filters through leaves and scatters across the ground.
- Schadenfreude The guilty little pleasure of taking satisfaction in someone else's misfortune.
- Wabi-sabi Finding beauty in imperfection, impermanence, and the worn or incomplete.
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