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杯水車薪

简杯水车薪 · 繁杯水車薪

Mandarin · pinyin bēi shuǐ chē xīn

lit. a cup of water on a burning cart of firewood (idiom); fig. an utterly inadequate measure

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Characters in this entry

杯: bēi · cup, glass
水: shuǐ · water, liquid, lotion, juice
車: chē · cart, vehicle; carry in a cart; Kangxi radical 159
薪: xīn · fuel, firewood; salary
车: chē · cart, vehicle; carry in cart

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

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Mandarin tones

1–3–1–1 · bei1 shui3 che1 xin1

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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.

杯水車薪 · find source passages ↗ · 杯水车薪 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

bui1 seoi2 ce1 san1

Cantonese word readings for 杯水車薪. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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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) too inadequate and useless; to no avail

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

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