逆水行舟 — Chinese idiom

Meaning

• lit. navigating a boat against the current
• fig. in a tough environment (one needs to work hard)

Character by character

• 逆nìto disobey, to rebel; traitor, rebel
• 水shuǐwater, liquid, lotion, juice
• 行xíngto go, to walk, to move; professional
• 舟zhōuboat, ship

Idioms sharing a character

• 倒行逆施 dào xíng nì shī
• 忠言逆耳 zhōng yán nì ěr
• 逆来顺受 nì lái shùn shòu
• 逆耳之言 nì ěr zhī yán
• 逆行倒施 nì xíng dào shī
• 违天逆理 wéi tiān nì lǐ
• 一清如水 yī qīng rú shuǐ
• 似水年华 sì shuǐ nián huá
• 出水芙蓉 chū shuǐ fú róng
• 如鱼得水 rú yú dé shuǐ

Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3). Retrieved 2026-10-22.