不怕一万，就怕万一 / 不怕一萬，就怕萬一

bù​pà​yī​wàn​jiù​pà​wàn​yī

better safe than sorry

It is better to be safe than sorry; to be prepared for the unlikely event that something goes wrong. Literally "not afraid of the ten thousand normal cases, but afraid of the one-in-ten-thousand chance."

bú​pà​yí​wàn​jiù​pà​wàn​yī

不 (literal) → 不 · bù · not 怕 (literal) → 怕 · pà · to fear 一 (literal) → 一 · yī · one 万 (literal) → 万/萬 · wàn · ten thousand ， (non_chinese) 就 (literal) → 就 · jiù · then 怕 (literal) → 怕 · pà · to worry 万一 (literal) → 万一/萬一 · wàn​yī · just in case

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

created sense May 20, 2026, 07:57 PM