千辛万苦
- Literal
- a thousand bitternesses, ten thousand hardships
- Figurative
- Untold hardships; every kind of toil and suffering endured to achieve something.
Where does 千辛万苦 come from?
It does not come from a specific tale; it is a set phrase built from two parallel pairs in which "thousand" (千) and "ten thousand" (万) are not exact figures but exaggerate the amount of bitterness (辛) and toil (苦). It is long attested in old vernacular and dramatic literature, and for centuries has been used to stress how much one has suffered to achieve something.
How is 千辛万苦 used? Two examples
- 父母千辛万苦把我们养大，我们一定要好好报答他们。
Our parents raised us through untold hardships; we must repay them properly.
- 经过千辛万苦，他终于找到了那家小店。
After untold hardships, he finally found that little shop.
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