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山穷水尽

shān qióng shuǐ jìndictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
mountain and river exhausted (idiom) / at the end of the line / nowhere to go
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-2a599910d389b339. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

山窮水盡 山穷水尽 [shan1 qiong2 shui3 jin4] /mountain and river exhausted (idiom); at the end of the line/nowhere to go/

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: 山窮水盡

  • 山
    shān

    mountain / hill (CL:座[zuò]) / (coll.) small bundle of straw for silkworms to spin cocoons on

    Shān

    surname Shan

  • 穷
    qióng

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

  • 水
    shuǐ

    water / (after a name) ... River / to swim (used mostly in 會水|会水[huì shuǐ] and 水性[shuǐ xìng]) / (coll.) lacking in substance / shoddy / (bound form) additional cost / extra income / classifier for washings of a garment

    Shuǐ

    surname Shui / Shui ethnic group

  • 尽
    jǐn

    to the greatest extent / (when used before a noun of location) furthest or extreme / to be within the limits of / to give priority to

    jìn

    to use up / to exhaust / to end / to finish / to the utmost / exhausted / finished / to the limit (of sth) / all / entirely

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.