CHENGYU
愚公移山(yú gōng yí shān)meaning, story and origin
- Register:
- literary
- Source:
- 《列子·汤问》
MEANING
- Literal
- the foolish old man moves the mountains
- Figurative meaning
- with persistence, even impossible tasks can be done
ORIGIN STORY
A ninety-year-old man dug at the two mountains blocking his home, saying his sons and grandsons would continue the work. Moved by his will, the gods removed the mountains.
NATURAL EQUIVALENT
“where there's a will, there's a way”
EXAMPLES
只要有愚公移山的精神，就没有做不到的事。Zhǐyào yǒu yú gōng yí shān de jīngshén, jiù méiyǒu zuò bù dào de shì.HSK6
With the spirit of the old man moving mountains, nothing is impossible.
他们用了十年建这条路，真是愚公移山。Tāmen yòng le shí nián jiàn zhè tiáo lù, zhēn shì yú gōng yí shān.HSK6
It took them ten years to build this road — a real old-man-moving-mountains effort.
COMMON MISTAKE
Watch out: 愚公 (foolish old man) is honorific here — the "foolishness" is really persistence.
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TRUST & SOURCES
- Reviewed by
- AI-assisted editorial review
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-14
- CC-CEDICT 2026-01-01