每况愈下
- Literal
- each state, further down
- Figurative
- To go steadily downhill: health, a business, or the quality of something keeps getting worse over time rather than all at once.
Where does 每况愈下 come from?
It comes, in reversed form, from a passage of the 《庄子》. Dongguo Zi asks Zhuangzi where the Dao is; he answers that it is everywhere and places it lower and lower: in ants, in weeds, in roof tiles, in excrement. To explain himself, he recalls how market overseers judge a pig's fatness by stepping on its legs: the lower down they test, the clearer it becomes. The formula was 每下愈况, "the lower, the clearer." Over time the order was reversed and 况 came to be read as "situation," hence today's sense: worse and worse. Unlike 一落千丈, a sudden plunge, the decline here is gradual.
Source (出处): 《庄子·知北游》
How is 每况愈下 used? Two examples
- 爷爷这两年身体每况愈下，现在上楼都得有人扶。
Grandpa's health has been going downhill these past two years; now he needs someone to hold his arm just to climb the stairs.
- 这家店换了老板以后，菜的质量每况愈下，客人越来越少。
Since this restaurant changed hands, the food has gone steadily downhill and fewer and fewer customers come.
In Wanyu, all 400 chengyu have audio on every sentence, and you can save them to your decks and review them with spaced repetition. Free.
