望梅止渴

wàng méi zhǐ kě

to comfort yourself with an illusion

Character by character

望wàng
gaze at

梅méi
plums

止zhǐ
stop

渴kě
thirst

没钱买房，天天看房子的广告，不过是望梅止渴。

With no money to buy, looking at property adverts every day is only quenching thirst with imaginary plums.

Tone: neutral.

Learn this in Lesson 209 · HSK 9+: 四大名著 (The four great novels)

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.