酸甜苦辣 suān-tián-kǔ-là literally sour, sweet, bitter and spicy
literally sour, sweet, bitter and spicy (idiom); figuratively all kinds of flavors; the joys and sorrows of life
How to remember 酸甜苦辣: 酸 sour + 甜 sweet + 苦 bitter + 辣 hot = literally sour, sweet, bitter and spicy.
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How it is used
- Literally 'sour, sweet, bitter, spicy' - a set idiom for life's full range of joys and hardships - 尝尽了人生的酸甜苦辣 (chángjìn le rénshēng de suāntiánkǔlà) tasted all of life's ups and downs.
- Fixed four-char order; don't reshuffle. Used figuratively about experience far more often than about actual flavors.