摸爬滚打
mō pá gǔn dǎ
to go through tough training; to learn the hard way through years of hands-on work
Character by character
摸mō
grope
grope
爬pá
crawl
crawl
滚gǔn
roll
roll
打dǎ
fight
fight
Example
他在销售行业摸爬滚打了十几年，才有了今天的成绩。
He spent more than ten years learning the hard way in sales before he achieved what he has today.
Tone: neutral.
Usage and origin
First the picture of soldiers crawling and rolling in the mud of the training ground; now used for years of hard experience in any trade: 在市场上／在基层摸爬滚打了 N 年.
Learn this in Lesson 202 · HSK 7–9: 参军 (Joining the army)
A dialogue, a reading, word cards with audio and a drill that uses it, in Learn Chinese with Bao. The first lessons of every level are free.
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