春江水暖鸭先知 in English chun1 jiang1 shui3 nuan3 ya1 xian1 zhi1 Meaning

Meanings

  • literally (word for word) the duck is the first to know if the spring water is warm (idiomatic expression)
  • metaphorically an expert in the field knows which way the wind blows

Simplified Characters

春 江 水 暖 鸭 先 知

Traditional Characters

春 江 水 暖 鴨 先 知

Pinyin

chun1 jiang1 shui3 nuan3 ya1 xian1 zhi1

Literal

Literal explanation, with pronunciation and meaning of each character.

春chun1old variant of 春[chun1] 江jiang1surname Jiang 水shui3surname Shui 暖nuan3old variant of 暖[nuan3] 鸭ya1duck 先xian1early 知zhi1to know