失之毫厘，差以千里
shī​zhī​háo​lí​chà​yǐ​qiān​lǐ

a tiny lapse can lead to a huge mistake

  • created sense approved 失之毫厘，差以千里/失之毫釐，差以千里 · shī​zhī​háo​lí​chà​yǐ​qiān​lǐ · a tiny lapse can lead to a huge mistake — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    失之毫厘，差以千里 / 失之毫釐，差以千里

    shī​zhī​háo​lí​chà​yǐ​qiān​lǐ

    a tiny lapse can lead to a huge mistake

    a minor discrepancy leading to enormous losses; a small error at the start can result in a wide divergence at the end

    失 (literal) → 失 · shī · to miss 之 (literal) → 之 · zhī · it 毫厘 (literal) → 毫厘/毫釐 · háo​lí · an iota ， (non_chinese) 差 (literal) → 差 · chà · to lack 以 (literal) → 以 · yǐ · by means of 千里 (literal) → 千里 · qiān​lǐ · a thousand li

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

    created sense