HSK 6 · Ideas

雪上加霜 xuěshàngjiāshuāng “one misfortune after another (lit. frost on top of snow)” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 雪上加霜 means

  1. one misfortune after another (lit. frost on top of snow)
  2. (idiom) to make matters even worse
  3. to add insult to injury

How to say 雪上加霜

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale雪xuě3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale上shàng4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale加jiā1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale霜shuāng1st tone, high and level

雪上加霜 in a sentence

  1. 他刚丢了工作，又生病了，真是雪上加霜。

    Tā gāng diū le gōngzuò, yòu shēngbìng le, zhēn shì xuěshàngjiāshuāng.

    He’d just lost his job, and then he fell ill. It never rains but it pours.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 下大雨已经很麻烦了，车又坏了，真是雪上加霜。

    Xià dàyǔ yǐjīng hěn máfan le, chē yòu huài le, zhēn shì xuěshàngjiāshuāng.

    The heavy rain was bad enough, and then the car broke down too. That made things even worse.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 雪上加霜 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 雪 (xuě) with each of its parts in a different colour
雪xuěsnow
  • 雨rain · yǔMeaning part
  • 彐snout · jìSound part

雨 hints at the meaning (rain); 彐 (jì) hints at the sound. Compare it with xuě.

The character 上 (shàng) with each of its parts in a different colour
上shàngup; upper; above; previous
  • ⺊divination form of 卜 · bǔ
  • 一one · yī

Memory aidA short stroke above the line: up, on top.

The character 加 (jiā) with each of its parts in a different colour
加jiāto add
  • 力strength · lì
  • 口mouth · kǒu

Memory aidStrength 力 added to words 口: to add.

The character 霜 (shuāng) with each of its parts in a different colour
霜shuāngfrost
  • 雨rain · yǔMeaning part
  • 相mutual · xiāngSound part

雨 hints at the meaning (rain); 相 (xiāng) hints at the sound. Compare it with shuāng.

How to write 雪上加霜

雪 11 strokes · 上 3 strokes · 加 5 strokes · 霜 17 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

雪上加霜 (xuěshàngjiāshuāng) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 雪上加霜 (xuěshàngjiāshuāng). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 雪上加霜

Words with 雪

雪xuě · snow

Words with 上

上shàng · up上午shàngwǔ · morning (forenoon)上课shàngkè · to go to class上学shàngxué · to go to school早上zǎoshang · morning晚上wǎnshang · evening上班shàngbān · to go to work上面shàngmiàn · above路上lùshang · on the road上来shànglái · to come up

Words with 加

加jiā · to add参加cānjiā · participate增加zēngjiā · to raise加班jiābān · to work overtime加油jiāyóu · to cheer on加入jiārù · to join更加gèngjiā · even more加油站jiāyóuzhàn · petrol station加剧jiājù · to intensify施加shījiā · to exert

More words: Ideas & Concepts

信念xìnniàn · belief心血xīnxuè · painstaking effort信仰xìnyǎng · belief修养xiūyǎng · self-cultivation循环xúnhuán · cycle须知xūzhī · notice演变yǎnbiàn · to evolve眼光yǎnguāng · vision

FAQs

雪上加霜 (xuěshàngjiāshuāng) means “one misfortune after another (lit. frost on top of snow)” or “(idiom) to make matters even worse”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it xuěshàngjiāshuāng: xuě with a 3rd tone, then shàng with a 4th tone, then jiā with a 1st tone, then shuāng with a 1st tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 雪上加霜 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type xueshangjiashuang with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 雪上加霜 from the suggestions. Typing xueshangjiashuang into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
雪上加霜 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences written by WillyChina. Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.