愈演愈烈
yù yǎn yù liè · HSK 7
problems get more and more intense
🔥 愈A愈B = the more A, the more B; here 演 develop + 烈 fierce = the more it unfolds, the fiercer
The 愈…愈… frame means the more one thing happens, the more another follows. With 演 (develop, play out) and 烈 (intense, fierce), it labels a situation that keeps escalating instead of cooling down.
演 — water 氵 + 寅 (yín, phonetic)
演 is a semantic-phonetic compound: the water radical 氵 gives the meaning, originally referring to water flowing far and spreading out, while 寅 supplies the sound. From 'water extending' it broadened to 'develop, elaborate, perform,' as in unfolding a story or acting out a play.