DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT
千里之堤,潰於蟻穴
简 千里之堤,溃于蚁穴 · 繁 千里之堤,潰於蟻穴Mandarin · pinyin qiān lǐ zhī dī , kuì yú yǐ xué
Meanings
- (lit.) an ant hole may cause the collapse of a great dike (idiom)
- (fig.) huge damage may result from a moment's negligence
Characters in this entry
- 千
- qiān · thousand; many, numerous; very; (Cant.) a cheater, swindler
- 里
- lǐ · unit of distance; village; lane; Kangxi radical 166
- 之
- zhī · marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; go to
- 堤
- dī · tí · dike
- 潰
- Look up this written character
- 於
- yú · yū · in, at, on; interjection alas!
- 蟻
- Look up this written character
- 穴
- xué · cave, den, hole; Kangxi radical 116
- 溃
- kuì · flooding river; militarily defeat
- 于
- yú · in, on, at; go to; surname
- 蚁
- yǐ · ants
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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.
千里之堤,潰於蟻穴 · find source passages ↗ · 千里之堤,溃于蚁穴 · find source passages ↗