unable to accomplish anything but liable to spoil everything (idiom); unable to do anything right; never make, but always mar
trad. 成事不足，敗事有餘
Also written 成事不足，敗事有餘【chéng shì bù zú , bài shì yǒu yú】
Characters in this word
7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
事
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
matter, thing, item, work, affair, CL:件[jian4],樁|桩[zhuang1],回[hui2]
- Pinyin
- shì
- Strokes
- 8
- Frequency
- 68 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
足
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
excessive
- Pinyin
- jù
- Strokes
- 7
- Frequency
- 12771 of 2500
败
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
to defeat, to damage, to lose (to an opponent), to fail, to wither
- Pinyin
- bài
- Traditional
- 敗
- Strokes
- 8
- Frequency
- 24234 of 2500
有
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
to have; there is, (bound form) having; with; -ful; -ed; -al (as in 有意[you3 yi4] intentional)
- Pinyin
- yǒu
- Strokes
- 6
- Frequency
- 13 of 2500
余
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
surname Yu
- Pinyin
- Yú
- Strokes
- 7
- Frequency
- 15197 of 2500