Learn Chinese Words: wàng méi zhǐ kě（望梅止渴）

Friday, January 30, 2026


To quench thirst by imagining plum trees refers to imagining the plum trees and quenching thirst with drool, and is a metaphor for comforting oneself with unrealistic fantasy. Let's have a deeper understanding!

Meaning

“望”的意思是想象，wàng
“wàng” means to imagine.
“梅”的意思是梅子，méi
“méi” means plum.
“止”的意思是停止，zhǐ
 “zhǐ” means to stop.
“渴”的意思是解渴，kě
“kě” means to quench thirst.

Story

During the Three Kingdoms period, when Cao Cao was leading a long-distance march with his soldiers, they were thirsty. Cao Cao said,"Ahead is a large plum forest with many plums, sweet and sour, which can quench your thirst." Hearing this, the soldiers were drooling and they temporarily became not thirsty anymore. It refers to a person's desire cannot be fulfilled and then the person resorts to fantasy for consolation.

Revelation

The idiom "To quench thirst by imagining plum trees " tells us that confidence and hope for the future are very important. When we face difficulties and challenges, only by being confident in the prospects can we have the motivation to overcome difficulties and achieve our goals. On the contrary, if we cannot see hope and lack confidence and motivation, it is difficult to swim against the current.

This story inspires us to maintain optimism even in difficult situations and use our desire for success to motivate ourselves. Only by doing so can we continuously strive and ultimately achieve success. At the same time, it also reminds us that in the process of purs“To quench thirst by imagining plum trees ” goals, we should not forget to establish practical plans and goals, so that we can better move forward.

Overall, the inspiration of "To quench thirst by imagining plum trees" is: in the face of difficulties, maintain confidence and hope, set clear goals, and continue to strive. Only then can we achieve success in difficult situations.

Sentences

1.He has no money to buy a villa, so he has to watch house advertisements every day to quench his thirst.
他没钱买别墅，只好天天看着房屋广告望梅止渴了。
 tā méi qián mǎi bié shù ， zhǐ hǎo tiān tiān kàn zhe fáng wū guǎng gào wàng méi zhǐ kě le 。
2.This way to quench one's thirst by looking at plum blossoms is just self-deception.
这种望梅止渴的办法，只不过是自欺欺人而已。
 zhè zhǒng wàng méi zhǐ kě de bàn fǎ ， zhǐ bù guò shì zì qī qī rén ér yǐ 。
3.The well water is dry, so we can't look at the plum every day to quench our thirst. We should also do something.
井水都枯了，我们总不能天天望梅止渴，也该想想办法才好。
 jǐng shuǐ dōu kū le ， wǒ men zǒng bù néng tiān tiān wàng méi zhǐ kě ， yě gāi xiǎng xiǎng bàn fǎ cái hǎo 。

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