Skip to content
yú 愚 gōng 公 yí 移 shān 山

愚公移山 yú gōng yí shān

the Foolish Old Man moves the mountain; perseverance can achieve the impossible

Literally: foolish old-man move mountain

🃏 Practise intermediate chengyu

Tap a character above to see its stroke order and the words it appears in.

Origin

From the Liezi: a ninety-year-old man set out to dig away two mountains blocking his door, saying his descendants would finish the job; Heaven, moved, removed the mountains.

How to use it

Standalone or attributive; positive. 愚公移山的精神.

Example sentences

Show:

Tap any word for its meaning and pinyin. The chengyu is highlighted.

  1. 他用愚公移山的精神,花了十年把这片荒地变成了果园。
    Tā yòng yú gōng yí shān de jīngshén, huā le shí nián bǎ zhè piàn huāngdì biàn chéng le guǒyuán.
    With the spirit of the Foolish Old Man, he spent ten years turning this wasteland into an orchard.
    he use foolish old-man move mountain (particle) spirit, spend (particle) ten year (object marker) this (measure) wasteland change into (particle) orchard
  2. 愚公移山的故事告诉我们,只要坚持就一定能成功。
    Yú gōng yí shān de gùshi gàosu wǒmen, zhǐyào jiānchí jiù yīdìng néng chénggōng.
    The story of the Foolish Old Man tells us that with persistence we can surely succeed.
    foolish old-man move mountain (particle) story tell us, as long as persist then surely can succeed

More chengyu about animals & fables

All animals & fables chengyu →