相辅相成
xiāngfǔxiāngchéng
to complement each other
Part of speech · phrase
Pattern visualization
相mutual
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相mutual
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9 strokes · 6.2s
9 strokes · 6.2s
Examples
- 理论与实践相辅相成。Theory and practice complement each other.
- 环保与发展可以相辅相成。Environmental protection and development can be mutually reinforcing.
Collocations
相辅相成互相促进缺一不可相得益彰
Mnemonic
相辅相成 is a four-character idiom (chengyu): 相 "mutually" 辅 "to assist" 相 "mutually" 成 "to accomplish", i.e. to complement each other and succeed together, to be mutually reinforcing. Korean renders it as "mutually complementary". It stresses a relationship where two elements, insufficient alone, become whole only together (理论与实践相辅相成). 相 means "mutually" (相互); 辅 means "to assist" (辅助); 成 means "to accomplish" (成功). It has a parallel couplet structure (相辅 // 相成).
Related
相得益彰互补缺一不可互相促进
Quick check
What does 相辅相成 mean?