the swallow's nest is built one beakful of mud at a time (idiom); many a little makes a mickle
trad. 燕子銜泥壘大窩
Also written 燕子銜泥壘大窩【yàn zi xián ní lěi dà wō】
Characters in this word
7燕
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
Yan, a vassal state of Zhou in present-day Hebei and Liaoning, north Hebei, the four Yan kingdoms of the Sixteen Kingdoms, namely: Former Yan 前燕[Qian2 Yan1] (337–370), Later Yan 後燕|后燕[Hou4 Yan1] (384–409), Southern Yan 南燕[Nan2 Yan1] (398–410), Northern Yan 北燕[Bei3 Yan1] (409–436), surname Yan
- Pinyin
- Yān
- Strokes
- 16
子
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
son, child, seed, egg, small thing, 1st earthly branch: 11 p.m.–1 a.m., midnight, 11th solar month (7th December to 5th January), year of the rat, viscount, fourth of five orders of nobility 五等爵位[wu3 deng3 jue2 wei4], ancient Chinese compass point: 0° (north), subsidiary; subordinate; (prefix) sub-
- Pinyin
- zǐ
- Strokes
- 3
- Frequency
- 2170 of 2500
衔
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
variant of 銜|衔[xian2]
- Pinyin
- xián
- Traditional
- 啣
- Strokes
- 11
泥
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
mud, clay, paste, pulp
- Pinyin
- ní
- Strokes
- 8
- Frequency
- 9295 of 2500
垒
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
rampart, base (in baseball), to build with stones, bricks etc
- Pinyin
- lěi
- Traditional
- 壘
- Strokes
- 9
- Frequency
- 39385 of 2500
大
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
big; large; great, older (than another person), eldest (as in 大姐[da4 jie3]), greatly; freely; fully, (dialect) father, (dialect) uncle (father's brother)
- Pinyin
- dà
- Strokes
- 3
- Frequency
- 199 of 2500
窝
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
nest, pit or hollow on the human body, lair, den, place, to harbor or shelter, to hold in check, to bend, classifier for litters and broods
- Pinyin
- wō
- Traditional
- 窩
- Strokes
- 12
- Frequency
- 9619 of 2500