DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

一木難支

简一木难支 · 繁一木難支

Mandarin · pinyin yī mù nán zhī

lit. a single post cannot prop up a falling house (idiom)
fig. one is helpless alone

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

一: yī · one; a, an; alone
木: mù · tree; wood, lumber; wooden
難: Look up this written character
支: zhī · disperse, pay; support; branch
难: nán · difficult, arduous, hard; unable

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

1–4–2–1 · yi1 mu4 nan2 zhi1

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

4character links

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

Read this spelling in Classical texts

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.

一木難支 · find source passages ↗ · 一木难支 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

jat1 muk6 naan4 zi1

Cantonese word readings for 一木難支. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

phrase

(idiomatic) "one post cannot hold a falling structure"; just one person cannot save something doomed to fail

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

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack