| 穷愁潦倒 |
qióng chóu liáo dǎo |
impoverished and dejected; wretched and penniless |
| 穷 |
qióng |
poor / destitute / to use up / to exhaust / thoroughly / extremely / (coll.) persistently and pointlessly |
| 穷愁 |
qióng chóu |
destitute / troubled / penniless and full of care |
| 愁 |
chóu |
to worry about |
| 潦 |
lǎo |
flooded / heavy rain |
| 潦 |
liáo |
used in 潦草 / used in 潦倒 |
| 潦倒 |
liáo dǎo |
down on one's luck; in straitened circumstances; disappointed; frustrated |
| 倒 |
dǎo |
to fall; to collapse; to lie horizontally / to fail; to go bankrupt / to overthrow / to change (trains or buses) / to move around / to resell at a profit |
| 倒 |
dào |
to invert; to place upside down or frontside back / to pour out / to tip out; to dump / inverted; upside down; reversed / to go backward / contrary to what one might expect; but; yet |