Mutual Moistening with Saliva: Literally, it means that after a spring dries up, two fish moisten each other with their saliva to stay alive. It comes from Zhuangzi: The Great Master, where the original text reads: "When the spring dries up, the fish are stranded together on land. They moisten each other with breath and wet each other with saliva, but better to forget each other in the rivers and lakes." This idiom is often used as a metaphor for people helping and comforting each other with meager strength in difficult times, emphasizing true solidarity through adversity. It is usually used to describe spouses, friends, or partners supporting each other during hard times, with a generally positive emotional tone and a sense of tragic warmth. The deeper meaning is that although such mutual aid is moving, Zhuangzi also suggests that rather than struggling to help each other in adversity, it is better to be free separately in favorable circumstances. In modern usage, however, people focus more on its positive aspect of true affection revealed in hardship, and it is often used to describe steadfast love or deep friendship.
📝 Example
1. The elderly couple supported each other through thick and thin in poverty, weathering fifty years of hardships together. (helping each other in difficult times)
2. After the earthquake, the victims helped each other and shared their meager food and water until rescue arrived. (mutual assistance in crisis)