千里之堤，溃于蚁穴
qiān​lǐ​zhī​dī​kuì​yú​yǐ​xué

a small leak will sink a great ship

  • created sense approved 千里之堤，溃于蚁穴/千里之堤，潰於蟻穴 · qiān​lǐ​zhī​dī​kuì​yú​yǐ​xué · a small leak will sink a great ship — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    千里之堤，溃于蚁穴 / 千里之堤，潰於蟻穴

    qiān​lǐ​zhī​dī​kuì​yú​yǐ​xué

    a small leak will sink a great ship

    literally, a dike of a thousand miles may collapse because of an ant hole; small problems or moments of negligence can lead to huge disasters or major losses if not addressed early

    千里 (literal) → 千里 · qiān​lǐ · a thousand li 之 (literal) → 之 · zhī · [possessive] 堤 (literal) → 堤 · dī · dike ， (non_chinese) 溃 (literal) → 溃/潰 · kuì · to burst 于 (literal) → 于/於 · yú · in 蚁穴 (literal) → 蚁穴/蟻穴 · yǐ​xué · ant nest

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

    created sense