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秤砣雖小壓千斤

简秤砣虽小压千斤 · 繁秤砣雖小壓千斤

Mandarin · pinyin chèng tuó suī xiǎo yā qiān jīn

although small, a steelyard weight may tip a hundred pounds (idiom)
apparently insignificant details can have a large impact
for want of a nail the battle was lost

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Characters in this entry

秤: chèng · balance, scale, steelyard
砣: tuó · a stone roller; a heavy stone, a weight, a plummet
雖: Look up this written character
小: xiǎo · small, tiny, insignificant
壓: Look up this written character
千: qiān · thousand; many, numerous; very; (Cant.) a cheater, swindler
斤: jīn · a catty (approximately 600 g); an axe; keen, shrewd; Kangxi radical 69
虽: suī · although, even if
压: yā · press; oppress; crush; pressure

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

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Mandarin tones

4–2–1–3–1–1–1 · cheng4 tuo2 sui1 xiao3 ya1 qian1 jin1

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秤砣雖小壓千斤 · find source passages ↗ · 秤砣虽小压千斤 · find source passages ↗

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