小洞不补大洞吃苦

Traditional: 小洞不補大洞吃苦

xiǎo dòng bù bǔ dà dòng chī kǔ

Dictionary entry

A small hole not plugged will make you suffer a big hole (idiom); a stitch in time saves nine

What does 小洞不补大洞吃苦 mean?

小洞不补大洞吃苦 (xiǎo dòng bù bǔ dà dòng chī kǔ) has the following dictionary meaning.

1A small hole not plugged will make you suffer a big hole (idiom); a stitch in time saves nine

Character breakdown

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

小xiǎosmall · tiny 洞dòngcave · hole 不bùno; not so · (bound form) not; un-补bǔto repair · to patch 大dàbig; large; great · older (than another person)吃chīto eat; to consume · to eat at (a cafeteria etc)苦kǔbitter · hardship

Reviewed examples

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

How to pronounce 小洞不补大洞吃苦

小洞不补大洞吃苦

xiǎo dòng bù bǔ dà dòng chī kǔ

Tap to hear Standard Mandarin.

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