一粒老鼠屎坏了一锅粥
yī​lì​lǎo​shǔ​shǐ​huài​le​yī​guō​zhōu

one bad apple spoils the bunch

  • created sense approved 一粒老鼠屎坏了一锅粥/一粒老鼠屎壞了一鍋粥 · yī​lì​lǎo​shǔ​shǐ​huài​le​yī​guō​zhōu · one bad apple spoils the bunch — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    一粒老鼠屎坏了一锅粥 / 一粒老鼠屎壞了一鍋粥

    yī​lì​lǎo​shǔ​shǐ​huài​le​yī​guō​zhōu

    one bad apple spoils the bunch

    Literally means one pellet of rat droppings ruined a whole pot of congee; used to describe how one small negative element or person can ruin something otherwise good.

    一 (literal) → 一 · yī · one 粒 (literal) → 粒 · lì · [for small round things] 老鼠 (literal) → 老鼠 · lǎo​shǔ · mouse 屎 (literal) → 屎 · shǐ · stool 坏 (literal) → 坏/壞 · huài · to go bad 了 (bound) → 了 · le · [aspect marker] 一锅粥 (literal) → 一锅粥/一鍋粥 · yī​guō​zhōu · a complete mess

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

    created sense