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一口吃不成胖子

Mandarin · pinyin yī kǒu chī bù chéng pàng zi

lit. you cannot get fat with only one mouthful (proverb)
fig. any significant achievement requires time, effort and persistence

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Characters in this entry

一: yī · one; a, an; alone
口: kǒu · mouth; open end; entrance, gate
吃: chī · eat; drink; suffer, endure, bear
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
成: chéng · completed, finished, fixed
胖: pàng · fat, obese; fatty
子: zǐ · offspring, child; fruit, seed of; first earthly branch

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

1–3–1–4–2–4–5 · yi1 kou3 chi1 bu4 cheng2 pang4 zi5

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Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

proverb

(alt-of, alternative) alternative form of 一口吃不成個胖子 /一口吃不成个胖子 (yīkǒu chī bù chéng gè pàngzi, “Nothing can be accomplished with one single effort.”)

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

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