lit. to try to steal a chicken only to end up losing the rice used to lure it (idiom); fig. to try to gain an advantage only to end up worse off; to go for wool and come back shorn
trad. 偷雞不成蝕把米
Also written 偷雞不成蝕把米【tōu jī bù chéng shí bǎ mǐ】
Characters in this word
7偷
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
to steal, to pilfer, to snatch, thief, stealthily
- Pinyin
- tōu
- Strokes
- 11
- Frequency
- 922 of 2500
鸡
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
fowl, chicken, CL:隻|只[zhi1], (slang) prostitute
- Pinyin
- jī
- Traditional
- 雞
- Strokes
- 7
- Frequency
- 2753 of 2500
不
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
no; not so, (bound form) not; un-
- Pinyin
- bù
- Strokes
- 4
- Frequency
- 9 of 2500
成
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
surname Cheng, short name for Chengdu 成都[Cheng2 du1]
- Pinyin
- Chéng
- Strokes
- 6
- Frequency
- 677 of 2500
蚀
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
to nibble away at sth, to eat into, to erode
- Pinyin
- shí
- Traditional
- 蝕
- Strokes
- 9
把
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
to hold; to grasp, to hold a baby in position to help it urinate or defecate, handlebar, classifier: handful, bundle, bunch, classifier for things with handles, (used to put the object before the verb: 把[ba3] + {noun} + {verb})
- Pinyin
- bǎ
- Strokes
- 7
- Frequency
- 34 of 2500
米
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
surname Mi
- Pinyin
- Mǐ
- Strokes
- 6
- Frequency
- 1106 of 2500