差之毫厘，谬以千里
chā​zhī​háo​lí​miù​yǐ​qiān​lǐ

a tiny error leads to a huge mistake

  • created sense approved 差之毫厘，谬以千里/差之毫釐，謬以千里 · chā​zhī​háo​lí​miù​yǐ​qiān​lǐ · a tiny error leads to a huge mistake — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    差之毫厘，谬以千里 / 差之毫釐，謬以千里

    chā​zhī​háo​lí​miù​yǐ​qiān​lǐ

    a tiny error leads to a huge mistake

    a small error in the beginning can lead to a massive failure or discrepancy in the result; emphasizes that even the slightest detail requires precision; a miss is as good as a mile

    差 (literal) → 差 · chā · difference 之 (literal) → 之 · zhī · it 毫厘 (literal) → 毫厘/毫釐 · háo​lí · an iota ， (non_chinese) 谬 (literal) → 谬/謬 · miù · false 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