lit. to ruin the enterprise for the sake of one basketful; to fail through lack of a final effort; to spoil the ship for a ha'penny worth of tar (idiom)
trad. 功虧一簣
Also written 功虧一簣【gōng kuī yī kuì】
Characters in this word
4功
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
meritorious deed or service, achievement, result, service, accomplishment, work (physics)
- Pinyin
- gōng
- Strokes
- 5
- Frequency
- 27779 of 2500
亏
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
to lose (money); to have a deficit, to be deficient, to treat unfairly, luckily; fortunately; thanks to, (used to introduce an ironic remark about sb who has fallen short of expectations)
- Pinyin
- kuī
- Traditional
- 虧
- Strokes
- 3
- Frequency
- 15724 of 2500
一
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
one, single, a (article), as soon as, entire; whole; all; throughout, "one" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 1), also pr. [yao1] for greater clarity when spelling out numbers digit by digit
- Pinyin
- yī
- Strokes
- 1
- Frequency
- 158 of 2500
篑
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
basket for carrying soil
- Pinyin
- kuì
- Traditional
- 簣
- Strokes
- 15