雪上加霜 meaning and pronunciation

雪上加霜
Simplified/traditional word

雪上加霜 English definition

xuě shàng jiā shuāng

  • to add hail to snow (idiom)
  • one disaster on top of another
  • to make things worse in a bad situation

HSK level


Characters

  • (xuě): snow; snowfall; CL:場|场[chang2]; to have the appearance of snow; to wipe away, off or out; to clean;
  • (shàng): upon; on top; above; upper; previous; first (of multiple parts); to climb; to get onto; to go up; to attend (class or university);
  • (jiā): to add; plus; (used after an adverb such as 不, 大, 稍 etc, and before a disyllabic verb, to indicate that the action of the verb is applied to sth or sb previously mentioned); to apply (restrictions etc) to (sb); to give (support, consideration etc) to (sth);
  • (shuāng): frost; white powder or cream spread over a surface; frosting; (skin) cream;