为德不卒
wéi​dé​bù​zú

to start well but not finish

  • created reference approved 为德不卒/為德不卒 → 为德不终/為德不終 (variant) — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    为德不卒 / 為德不卒 wéi​dé​bù​zú

    为德不终 / 為德不終 wéi​dé​bù​zhōng

    variant

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

    created reference

  • created sense approved 为德不卒/為德不卒 · wéi​dé​bù​zú · to start well but not finish — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    为德不卒 / 為德不卒

    wéi​dé​bù​zú

    to start well but not finish

    To start doing something virtuous or kind but fail to see it through to the end; to lack the persistence to finish a good deed.

    为 (literal) → 为/為 · wéi · to do 德 (literal) → 德 · dé · virtue 不 (literal) → 不 · bù · not 卒 (literal) → 卒 · zú · to finish

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

    created sense