水落石出
- Literal
- the water falls and the rocks come out
- Figurative
- For the truth to finally come out once whatever was covering it recedes; for a murky matter to be fully cleared up.
Where does 水落石出 come from?
The four characters come from Su Shi's second "Ode on the Red Cliff," written in winter during his exile in Huangzhou. Returning to the same spot he had visited in autumn, the poet finds it unrecognizable and sums it up in one line: the mountain tall, the moon small, the water low and the rocks laid bare. In the original this is pure landscape description —the river shrinks in winter and the bed shows through— and only later did readers give it the figurative sense it carries today: once whatever covered something recedes, what lay underneath appears.
Source (出处): 苏轼《后赤壁赋》
How is 水落石出 used? Two examples
- 这件事迟早会水落石出，你别急。
This will come to light sooner or later, so don't get worked up.
- 警方还在调查，等水落石出再下结论吧。
The police are still investigating, so let's wait until the facts are clear before drawing conclusions.
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