細水長流

Chinese

		fine; minutely; thin fine; minutely; thin; slender	water; river	long; length; forever long; length; forever; always; constantly; chief; head; elder; to grow; to develop	to flow; to spread; to circulate to flow; to spread; to circulate; to move
trad. (細水長流)		細	水	長	流
simp. (细水长流)		细	水	长	流
Literally: “a trickle flows for a long time”.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): xìshuǐchángliú

  (Zhuyin): ㄒㄧˋ ㄕㄨㄟˇ ㄔㄤˊ ㄌㄧㄡˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): sai³ seoi² coeng⁴ lau⁴

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: xìshuǐchángliú
    • Zhuyin: ㄒㄧˋ ㄕㄨㄟˇ ㄔㄤˊ ㄌㄧㄡˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: sìshuěichánglióu
    • Wade–Giles: hsi⁴-shui³-chʻang²-liu²
    • Yale: syì-shwěi-cháng-lyóu
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: shihshoeicharngliou
    • Palladius: сишуйчанлю (sišujčanlju)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ɕi⁵¹ ʂu̯eɪ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ ʈ͡ʂʰɑŋ³⁵ li̯oʊ̯³⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: sai³ seoi² coeng⁴ lau⁴
    • Yale: sai séui chèuhng làuh
    • Cantonese Pinyin: sai³ soey² tsoeng⁴ lau⁴
    • Guangdong Romanization: sei³ sêu² cêng⁴ leo⁴
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sɐi̯³³ sɵy̯³⁵ t͡sʰœːŋ²¹ lɐu̯²¹/

Idiom

細水長流

1. to economize to avoid running short
2. to work steadily at something little by little
   • 2022, “某種老朋友 [Stranger]”, 林夕 [Albert Leung] (lyrics), 澤日生 [Christopher Chak] (music)‎^[1]performed by 林家謙 [Terence Lam]:

     世上沒人能阻擋細水愛長流 [Literary Cantonese, trad.]
     世上没人能阻挡细水爱长流 [Literary Cantonese, simp.]

     sai³ soeng⁶ mut⁶ jan⁴ nang⁴ zo² dong² sai³ seoi² oi³ coeng⁴ lau⁴ [Jyutping]

     No one on earth can stop one from liking to work steadily little by little