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7-9
潑冷水

pour cold water

Character Composition

Characters

Pinyin

po1leng3shui3 • pōlěngshuǐ

Meaning

Primary

pour cold water

Alternatives

splash cold water, discourage, to discourage

Mnemonic

When you 潑冷水 pour cold water on someone, you figuratively discourage them by 潑 splashing the 冷 cold 水 water of your critical comments onto their enthusiasm.

Usage

不要 給 他 的 計畫 潑冷水。

Don't throw cold water on his plan.

不要 在 別人 高興 時 潑冷水。

Don't pour cold water when others are happy.

他 喜歡 對 新 點子 潑冷水。

He likes to pour cold water on new ideas.