八字还没一撇 / 八字還沒一撇

bā​zì​hái​méi​yī​piě

things have not even started yet

Literally "not even the first stroke of the character [[八|八|ba1]] is written"; used to say that a plan is in its very early stages and nothing tangible has happened yet

八 (literal) → 八 · bā · eight 字 (literal) → 字 · zì · character 还 (literal) → 还/還 · hái · still 没 (literal) → 没/沒 · méi · [negation] 一 (literal) → 一 · yī · one 撇 (literal) → 撇 · piě · downward stroke

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

created sense May 20, 2026, 07:57 PM