雪泥鸿爪 — Chinese idiom

Meaning

• a goose's footprint in the snow
• vestiges of the past
• the fleeting nature of human life

Character by character

• 雪xuěsnow; wipe away shame, avenge
• 泥nímud, earth, clay; plaster, paste
• 鸿hónga species of wild swan; vast
• 爪zhǎoclaws, nails, talons

Idioms sharing a character

• 一雪前耻 yī xuě qián chǐ
• 冰雪聪明 bīng xuě cōng ming
• 报仇雪耻 bào chóu xuě chǐ
• 报仇雪恨 bào chóu xuě hèn
• 欺霜傲雪 qī shuāng ào xuě
• 程门立雪 Chéng mén lì xuě
• 聚萤映雪 jù yíng yìng xuě
• 雪上加霜 xuě shàng jiā shuāng
• 雪中送炭 xuě zhōng sòng tàn
• 风花雪月 fēng huā xuě yuè

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