DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

一顆老鼠屎壞了一鍋湯

简一颗老鼠屎坏了一锅汤 · 繁一顆老鼠屎壞了一鍋湯

Mandarin · pinyin yī kē lǎo shǔ shǐ huài le yī guō tāng

lit. one pellet of rat feces spoiled the whole pot of soup (idiom)
fig. one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch

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Characters in this entry

一: yī · one; a, an; alone
顆: Look up this written character
老: lǎo · old, aged; experienced; Kangxi radical 125
鼠: shǔ · rat, mouse; Kangxi radical 208
屎: shǐ · excrement, shit, dung
壞: Look up this written character
了: le · to finish; particle of completed action
鍋: Look up this written character
湯: Look up this written character
颗: kē · grain, kernel
坏: huài · rotten, spoilt, bad, broken down
锅: guō · cooking-pot, saucepan
汤: tāng · hot water; soup, gravy, broth

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

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Mandarin tones

1–1–3–3–3–4–5–1–1–1 · yi1 ke1 lao3 shu3 shi3 huai4 le5 yi1 guo1 tang1

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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.

一顆老鼠屎壞了一鍋湯 · find source passages ↗ · 一颗老鼠屎坏了一锅汤 · find source passages ↗

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