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吃力不討好

简吃力不讨好 · 繁吃力不討好

Mandarin · pinyin chī lì bù tǎo hǎo

arduous and thankless task (idiom); strenuous and unrewarding

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Characters in this entry

吃: chī · eat; drink; suffer, endure, bear
力: lì · power, capability, influence; Kangxi radical 19
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
討: Look up this written character
好: hǎo · good, excellent, fine; well
讨: tǎo · to discuss; ask for, beg; demand; dun; marry

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

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Mandarin tones

1–4–4–3–3 · chi1 li4 bu4 tao3 hao3

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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.

吃力不討好 · find source passages ↗ · 吃力不讨好 · find source passages ↗

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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.

phrase

(idiomatic, of a task, etc.) arduous and thankless; strenuous and unrewarding

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

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