穷当益坚 — Chinese idiom

Meaning

• poor but ambitious ; hard-pressed but determined
• the worse one's position, the harder one must fight back

Character by character

• 穷qióngpoor, destitute; to exhaust
• 当dāngappropriate, timely; to act, to serve; the sound o
• 益yìto profit, to benefit; advantage
• 坚jiānhard, strong; firm, resolute

Idioms sharing a character

• 国弱民穷 guó ruò mín qióng
• 图穷匕见 tú qióng bǐ xiàn
• 安富恤穷 ān fù xù qióng
• 层出不穷 céng chū bù qióng
• 山穷水尽 shān qióng shuǐ jìn
• 后患无穷 hòu huàn wú qióng
• 日暮途穷 rì mù tú qióng
• 民穷财尽 mín qióng cái jìn
• 无穷无尽 wú qióng wú jìn
• 理屈词穷 lǐ qū cí qióng

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