偷鸡不着蚀把米
tōu​jī​bù​zháo​shí​bǎ​mǐ

to go for wool and come back shorn

  • created reference approved 偷鸡不着蚀把米/偷雞不著蝕把米 → 偷鸡不着反折一把米/偷雞不著反折一把米 (variant) — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    偷鸡不着蚀把米 / 偷雞不著蝕把米 tōu​jī​bù​zháo​shí​bǎ​mǐ

    偷鸡不着反折一把米 / 偷雞不著反折一把米 tōu​jī​bù​zháo​fǎn​zhé​yī​bǎ​mǐ

    variant

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

    created reference

  • created sense approved 偷鸡不着蚀把米/偷雞不著蝕把米 · tōu​jī​bù​zháo​shí​bǎ​mǐ · to go for wool and come back shorn — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    偷鸡不着蚀把米 / 偷雞不著蝕把米

    tōu​jī​bù​zháo​shí​bǎ​mǐ

    to go for wool and come back shorn

    To try to gain an advantage only to end up worse off; literally to try to steal a chicken only to end up losing the rice used to lure it.

    偷 (literal) → 偷 · tōu · to steal 鸡 (literal) → 鸡/雞 · jī · chicken 不着 (literal) → 不着/不著 · bù​zháo · unsuccessful 蚀 (literal) → 蚀/蝕 · shí · to lose 把 (literal) → 把 · bǎ · [classifier] 米 (literal) → 米 · mǐ · rice

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

    created sense