Nuance Dictionary / Social Situations
밑 빠진 독에 물 붓기 Mit pajin doge mul butgi
Pouring money into a bottomless pit where every won vanishes with zero tangible progress.
What does 밑 빠진 독에 물 붓기 mean?
밑 빠진 독에 물 붓기 (Mit pajin doge mul butgi) means: Pouring money into a bottomless pit where every won vanishes with zero tangible progress.
Speakers reach for this expression when discussing constant spending or debt repayment that yields no visible progress. It commonly appears in discussions about household budgeting, loans, and tuition expenses. It frequently combines with verbs of spending, wasting, or pouring such as 쓰다, 붓다, and 나가다.
When used in financial discussions, it often carries a heavy sense of exhaustion and quiet despair, as if acknowledging a trap that cannot be escaped.
When used in financial discussions, it often carries a heavy sense of exhaustion and quiet despair, as if acknowledging a trap that cannot be escaped.
Other sides of 밑 빠진 독에 물 붓기
◆ Productivity Futility — Speakers use this idiom to describe actions or efforts that produce no lasting accumulation or retention, particularly in contexts involving repeated attempts to teach, train, or correct chronic issues. It typically appears in discussions where time or resources are continuously expended without any visible return or progress.
In academic or professional environments, applying this to a recurring problem can sound harshly dismissive, framing the subject's inability to retain information as an inherent and permanent defect rather than a temporary learning curve.
In academic or professional environments, applying this to a recurring problem can sound harshly dismissive, framing the subject's inability to retain information as an inherent and permanent defect rather than a temporary learning curve.
🎙️ 밑 빠진 독에 물 붓기는 표기 그대로 읽지 않아요 — 실제로는 [믿 빠진 도게 물 붇끼]로 소리나요 (경음화, 받침규칙, 연음법칙). 발음 연습하기 →
How it's actually used
- 사교육비로 나가는 돈은 밑 빠진 독에 물 붓기야.
sa-gyo-yuk-bi-ro na-ga-neun don-eun mit pa-jin dog-e mul but-gi-ya.
Money spent on private education is like pouring water into a bottomless jar.
💡 Describing educational expenses that seem to consume endless funds without clear results. - 빚을 갚아도 이자만 나가니 밑 빠진 독에 물 붓기 같아요.
bij-eul ga-pa-do i-ja-man na-ga-ni mit pa-jin dog-e mul but-gi gat-a-yo.
Even when paying off the principal, only the interest goes out; it feels like pouring water into a bottomless jar.
💡 Expressing frustration over debt repayment where the balance never seems to decrease. - 계속 수리만 하고 타는 것은 밑 빠진 독에 물 붓는 격이다.
gye-sok su-ri-man ha-go ta-neun got-eun mit pa-jin dog-e mul but-neun gyeog-i-da.
Continuously repairing and driving it is like pouring water into a bottomless jar.
💡 Reflecting on the futility of repeatedly fixing an old car that keeps breaking down.
Related words in Social Situations
모 아니면 도 Mo animyeon do모임 mo-im목이 빠지다 Mogi ppajida목에 힘을 주다 Mok-e him-eul juda모르다 moreuda