画蛇添足

Traditional: 畫蛇添足

huà shé tiān zú

Dictionary entry

lit. draw legs on a snake (idiom); fig. to ruin the effect by adding sth superfluous

What does 画蛇添足 mean?

画蛇添足 (huà shé tiān zú) has the following dictionary meaning.

1lit. draw legs on a snake (idiom); fig. to ruin the effect by adding sth superfluous

2to overdo it

Character breakdown

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画huàto draw; to paint · picture; painting (CL:幅[fu2],張|张[zhang1])蛇shévariant of 蛇[she2]添tiānto add; to increase; to replenish 足jùexcessive

Reviewed examples

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How to pronounce 画蛇添足

画蛇添足

huà shé tiān zú

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