浊浪滔天
zhuó làng tāo tiān
muddy waves surging to the sky; a raging flood
Character by character
浊zhuó
muddy
muddy
浪làng
waves
waves
滔tāo
surge
surge
天tiān
sky
sky
Example
暴雨过后，江面上浊浪滔天，渡船全都停开了。
After the storm the river was a mass of churning brown water, and all the ferries stopped running.
Tone: neutral.
Usage and origin
A written description of a river in full flood or a stormy sea, common in reporting and memoirs of floods. 滔 is to flood or surge, as in 滔滔不绝 (lesson 6-11); 浊 is muddy, the opposite of 清. Occasionally figurative, of turbulent times.
Learn this in Lesson 171 · HSK 7–9: 1998年的洪水 (The floods of 1998)
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