只要功夫深，铁杵磨成针

Traditional: 只要功夫深，鐵杵磨成針

zhǐ yào gōng fu shēn , tiě chǔ mó chéng zhēn

Dictionary entry

If you work at it hard enough, you can grind an iron bar into a needle.

What does 只要功夫深，铁杵磨成针 mean?

只要功夫深，铁杵磨成针 (zhǐ yào gōng fu shēn , tiě chǔ mó chéng zhēn) has the following dictionary meaning.

1If you work at it hard enough, you can grind an iron bar into a needle.

2cf idiom 磨杵成針|磨杵成针, to grind an iron bar down to a fine needle (idiom); fig. to persevere in a difficult task

3to study diligently

Character breakdown

Open each character to see its own meanings and vocabulary links.

只zhīvariant of 隻|只[zhi1]要yāo(bound form) to demand; to coerce 功gōngmeritorious deed or service · achievement 夫fūhusband · man 深shēnold variant of 深[shen1]铁Tiěsurname Tie 杵chǔpestle · to poke 磨móto rub · to grind

Reviewed examples

No reviewed example dialogues yet. This page only shows verified dictionary data until a context lesson is published.

How to pronounce 只要功夫深，铁杵磨成针

只要功夫深，铁杵磨成针

zhǐ yào gōng fu shēn , tiě chǔ mó chéng zhēn

Tap to hear Standard Mandarin.

Base dictionary data: CC-CEDICT · CC BY-SA 4.0.