People & Bonds
肝膽相照
간담상조
gān dǎn xiāng zhào
Gan-dam-sang-jo
肝
간 간
膽
쓸개 담
相
서로 상
照
비칠 조
Character by character
Meaning
Liver and gall lit up to each other — friendship with nothing held back.
Origin
From Han Yu’s memorial for Liu Zongyuan, on the nature of true friendship.
How it is used
Used for the deep trust between long-standing friends.
Hanja肝膽相照
Simplified肝胆相照
Korean reading간담상조
Pinyingān dǎn xiāng zhào
Frequently asked questions
Q. What does Gan-dam-sang-jo mean?
肝膽相照 · Liver and gall lit up to each other — friendship with nothing held back.
Q. Where does Gan-dam-sang-jo come from?
From Han Yu’s memorial for Liu Zongyuan, on the nature of true friendship.
Q. How is Gan-dam-sang-jo used?
Used for the deep trust between long-standing friends.
Idioms in the same group
管鮑之交 Gwan-po-ji-gyoThe friendship of Guan Zhong and Bao Shuya — friends who truly know each other.竹馬故友 Juk-ma-go-uAn old friend from bamboo-horse days — someone you grew up with.百年偕老 Baeng-nyeon-hae-roGrowing old together for a hundred years.同苦同樂 Dong-go-dong-nakSharing the hardship and the joy alike.人之常情 In-ji-sang-jeongThe ordinary feeling any human being would have.類類相從 Yu-yu-sang-jongLike follows like — similar people gather together.
The idioms used in Korea mix phrases from the Chinese classics with ones coined in Korea. Where an expression is not used in China, the entry says so.