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雪上加霜

xuě shàng jiā shuāng

one blow on top of another

Character by character

雪xuě
snow
上shàng
on
加jiā
add
霜shuāng
frost

Example

丢了工作又生了病,真是雪上加霜。
Losing his job and then falling ill: it's one blow after another.

Tone: negative (criticism).

Usage and origin

Opposite of 锦上添花; for misfortune piled on misfortune.

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