Welcome to ChineseFrequencyDictionary.com. Enter a Chinese character or compound Chinese word to lookup. If a valid dictionary entry is found, frequency information will be shown below:

Chinese Character/Word:

Definition(s) for: 上善若水

Hanzi Pinyin Definition(s)
上善若水 shàng shàn ruò shuǐ - the ideal is to be like water (which benefits all living things and does not struggle against them) (quotation from the "Book of Dao" 道德經|道德经[Dao4 de2 jing1])

List Ranking:

Where rank 1 is most common, and higher numbers are less common.

HSK 2 Level (2012) HSK 3 Band (2022) SUBTLEX-CH BeijingUni Global BeijingUni Weibo
- - - - 72,903

Individual Character Breakdown:

Simp Pinyin Eng
shǎng- used in 上聲|上声[shang3 sheng1]
shàng- (bound form) up; upper; above; previous
- first (of multiple parts)
- to climb; to get onto; to go up
- to attend (class or university)
- (directional complement) up
- (noun suffix) on; above
shàn- good (virtuous)
- benevolent
- well-disposed
- good at sth
- to improve or perfect
- used in 般若[bo1re3]
- used in 蘭若|兰若[lan2re3]
ruò- to seem
- like
- as
- if
shuǐ- surname Shui
shuǐ- water
- (after a name) ... River
- to swim (used mostly in 會水|会水[hui4shui3] and 水性[shui3xing4])
- (coll.) lacking in substance; shoddy
- (bound form) additional cost; extra income
- classifier for washings of a garment

Other Words Containing 上善若水

Sorted by the 'SUBTLEX-CH' rank because that seems like the most reliable. Words without a SUBTLEX-CH rank are ignored for being too rare.

Word HSK 2 Level (2012) HSK 3 Band (2022) SUBTLEX-CH BeijingUni Global BeijingUni Weibo