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只要功夫深,鐵杵磨成針
简 只要功夫深,铁杵磨成针 · 繁 只要功夫深,鐵杵磨成針Mandarin · pinyin zhǐ yào gōng fu shēn , tiě chǔ mó chéng zhēn
Meanings
- If you work at it hard enough, you can grind an iron bar into a needle.
- cf idiom 磨杵成針, to grind an iron bar down to a fine needle (idiom); fig. to persevere in a difficult task
- to study diligently
Characters in this entry
- 只
- zhǐ · only, just, simply
- 要
- yào · necessary, essential; necessity
- 功
- gōng · achievement, merit, good result
- 夫
- fū · man, male adult, husband; those
- 深
- shēn · deep; depth; far; very, extreme
- 鐵
- Look up this written character
- 杵
- chǔ · pestle; baton used beat clothes
- 磨
- mó · grind; polish; rub; wear out; a millstone
- 成
- chéng · completed, finished, fixed
- 針
- Look up this written character
- 铁
- tiě · iron; strong, solid, firm
- 针
- zhēn · needle; pin; tack; acupuncture
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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.
只要功夫深,鐵杵磨成針 · find source passages ↗ · 只要功夫深,铁杵磨成针 · find source passages ↗