a tiny lapse can lead to a huge mistake (idiom); a minor discrepancy leading to enormous losses
trad. 失之毫釐，差之千里
Also written 失之毫釐，差之千里【shī zhī háo lí , chà zhī qiān lǐ】
Characters in this word
7失
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
to lose, to miss, to fail
- Pinyin
- shī
- Strokes
- 5
- Frequency
- 7657 of 2500
之
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
(possessive particle, literary equivalent of 的[de5]), him, her, it
- Pinyin
- zhī
- Strokes
- 3
- Frequency
- 475 of 2500
毫
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
hair, drawing brush, (in the) least, one thousandth, currency unit, 0.1 yuan
- Pinyin
- háo
- Strokes
- 11
厘
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
variant of 釐|厘[li2]
- Pinyin
- lí
- Strokes
- 9
差
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
difference; discrepancy, (math.) difference (amount remaining after a subtraction), (literary) a little; somewhat; slightly
- Pinyin
- chā
- Strokes
- 9
- Frequency
- 1932 of 2500
千
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
thousand
- Pinyin
- qiān
- Strokes
- 3
- Frequency
- 5441 of 2500
里
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
variant of 裡|里[li3]
- Pinyin
- lǐ
- Traditional
- 裏
- Strokes
- 7
- Frequency
- 108 of 2500