水滴石穿 — Chinese idiom
水滴石穿
shuǐ dī shí chuān
Meaning
- dripping water penetrates the stone ; constant perseverance yields success
- You can achieve your aim if you try hard without giving up.
- Persistent effort overcomes any difficulty.
Character by character
- 水shuǐwater, liquid, lotion, juice
- 滴dīto drip; a drop of water
- 石shístone, rock, mineral
- 穿chuānto drill, to pierce; to dress, to wear
Idioms sharing a character
- 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
- 山明水秀 shān míng shuǐ xiù
- 山清水秀 shān qīng shuǐ xiù
- 山穷水尽 shān qióng shuǐ jìn
- 山长水远 shān cháng shuǐ yuǎn
- 山高水长 shān gāo shuǐ cháng
- 山高水险 shān gāo shuǐ xiǎn
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3). Retrieved 2026-10-22.