一口吃不成胖子
yì​kǒu​chī​bù​chéng​pàng​zi

Rome wasn't built in a day

  • created sense approved 一口吃不成胖子 · yì​kǒu​chī​bù​chéng​pàng​zi · Rome wasn't built in a day — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    一口吃不成胖子

    yì​kǒu​chī​bù​chéng​pàng​zi

    Rome wasn't built in a day

    literally "one cannot get fat with a single mouthful"; used as a proverb to mean that nothing significant can be accomplished in a single effort or that any great achievement requires time and persistence

    一口 (literal) → 一口 · yī​kǒu · a mouthful 吃 (literal) → 吃 · chī · to eat 不成 (literal) → 不成 · bù​chéng · [unable to] 胖子 (literal) → 胖子 · pàng​zi · fat person

    Changed: simplified, traditional, gloss, definition, pinyin, variant pinyin, variants, separable parts, decomposition

    created sense