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穷困潦倒

qióng kùn liáo dǎodictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
(idiom) to live in poverty and despair / down and out / destitute and without hope
Sources & editorial notes

Reference definitions: CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source release 2026-10-27T01:55:52Z. Imported 2026-10-27. Definition wording and meaning order are retained. Recognized pronunciation references are displayed with tone marks; the original source record is available below.

Source record: cd-1b3fca9234d3d88e. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

窮困潦倒 穷困潦倒 [qiong2 kun4 liao2 dao3] /(idiom) to live in poverty and despair; down and out; destitute and without hope/

Reference definitions and teaching material have separate provenance.

Reference information

The definitions above are from CC-CEDICT. Examples and usage notes are available on selected entries.

Character information

View the individual characters. Their meanings do not necessarily explain the meaning of the whole word.

Other forms in these source records: 窮困潦倒

  • 穷
    qióng

    poor / destitute / to use up / to exhaust / thoroughly / extremely / (coll.) persistently and pointlessly

  • 困
    kùn

    to trap / to surround / hard-pressed / stranded / destitute / sleepy / tired

  • 潦
    lǎo

    flooded / heavy rain

    liáo

    used in 潦草[liáo cǎo] / used in 潦倒[liáo dǎo]

  • 倒
    dǎo

    to fall / to collapse / to lie horizontally / to fail / to go bankrupt / to overthrow / to change (trains or buses) / to move around / to resell at a profit

    dào

    to invert / to place upside down or frontside back / to pour out / to tip out / to dump / inverted / upside down / reversed / to go backward / contrary to what one might expect / but / yet

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.