穷则思变 — Chinese idiom
穷则思变
qióng zé sī biàn
Traditional: 窮則思變
Meaning
- when you hit bottom, you have to come up with a new approach
Character by character
- 穷qióngpoor, destitute; to exhaust
- 则zérule, law, regulation; grades
- 思sīto think, to ponder, to consider; final particle
- 变biànto change, to transform, to alter; rebel
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.