一颗老鼠屎坏了一锅粥
yī​kē​lǎo​shǔ​shǐ​huài​le​yī​guō​zhōu

one bad apple spoils the bunch

  • created reference approved 一颗老鼠屎坏了一锅粥/一顆老鼠屎壞了一鍋粥 → 老鼠屎 (see) — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    一颗老鼠屎坏了一锅粥 / 一顆老鼠屎壞了一鍋粥 yī​kē​lǎo​shǔ​shǐ​huài​le​yī​guō​zhōu

    老鼠屎 lǎo​shǔ​shǐ

    see

    Changed: source (simp), source (trad), source pinyin, target (simp), target (trad), target pinyin, type

    created reference

  • created sense approved 一颗老鼠屎坏了一锅粥/一顆老鼠屎壞了一鍋粥 · yī​kē​lǎo​shǔ​shǐ​huài​le​yī​guō​zhōu · one bad apple spoils the bunch — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    一颗老鼠屎坏了一锅粥 / 一顆老鼠屎壞了一鍋粥

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

    one bad apple spoils the bunch

    Literally "one pellet of rat feces spoiled the whole pot of congee"; used to describe how a single small negative element can ruin an entire situation or group.

    一 (literal) → 一 · yī · one 颗 (literal) → 颗/顆 · kē · [classifier] 老鼠屎 (literal) → 老鼠屎 · lǎo​shǔ​shǐ · rat droppings 坏 (literal) → 坏/壞 · huài · to go bad 了 (literal) → 了 · le · [aspect marker] 一 (literal) → 一 · yī · one 锅 (literal) → 锅/鍋 · guō · pot 粥 (literal) → 粥 · zhōu · porridge

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

    created sense