lit. sharpening the axe won't make the wood-splitting take longer (idiom); fig. time invested in preparations is not lost; a beard well lathered is half shaved
trad. 磨刀不誤砍柴工
Also written 磨刀不誤砍柴工【mó dāo bù wù kǎn chái gōng】
Characters in this word
7磨
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
to rub, to grind, to polish, to sharpen, to wear down, to die out, to waste time, to pester, to insist
- Pinyin
- mó
- Strokes
- 16
- Frequency
- 15087 of 2500
刀
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
surname Dao
- Pinyin
- Dāo
- Strokes
- 2
- Frequency
- 1717 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
误
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
mistake, error, to miss, to harm, to delay, to neglect, mistakenly
- Pinyin
- wù
- Traditional
- 誤
- Strokes
- 9
- Frequency
- 25626 of 2500
砍
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
to chop, to cut down, to throw sth at sb
- Pinyin
- kǎn
- Strokes
- 9
- Frequency
- 2822 of 2500
柴
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
surname Chai
- Pinyin
- Chái
- Strokes
- 10
- Frequency
- 16820 of 2500
工
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
work, worker, skill, profession, trade, craft, labor
- Pinyin
- gōng
- Strokes
- 3
- Frequency
- 7447 of 2500