同流合污 - tóng liú hé wū This is one of the most interesting idioms I looked up in the dictionary this week. Its meaning can be guessed when you understand the characters. 同 - tóng - alike, same, similar 流 - liú - kind, type (of people) 合 - hé - join, combine 污 - wū - dirty, filthy, foul Some of the above characters have other meanings, but the above interpretations are obvious even without looking them up in the dictionary. Here are the definitions of the idiom: - wallow in the mire with somebody - associate with an evil person - partner in crime - to follow the bad example of others - join someone in their evildoing - sink to the level of If you have a solid understanding of Chinese, you can often understand (or at least guess at) the meanings of idioms without looking them up in the dictionary. However, it's always good to look up them up anyway just to confirm. And incidentally, I also check the definition in Chinese as well, because oftentimes the English "definitions" are interpretations that differ slightly from what is listed in English. And of course, the idioms sometimes need to be interpreted differently depending on how the author uses them. I'll make a separate post about that later....