成事不足，败事有余 / 成事不足，敗事有餘

chéng​shì​bù​zú​bài​shì​yǒu​yú

more harm than good

unable to accomplish anything but very good at spoiling things; describing someone who is incompetent and only makes matters worse

成事 (literal) → 成事 · chéng​shì · to succeed 不足 (literal) → 不足 · bù​zú · insufficient ， (non_chinese) 败事 (literal) → 败事/敗事 · bài​shì · to spoil a matter 有余 (literal) → 有余/有餘 · yǒu​yú · to have extra

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

created sense May 20, 2026, 07:58 PM

成事不足，败事有余 / 成事不足，敗事有餘

chéng​shì​bù​zú​bài​shì​yǒu​yú

unable to help but able to spoil

Unable to do anything right, and likely to ruin things further; describes someone who is more of a hindrance than a help.

成事 (literal) → 成事 · chéng​shì · to succeed 不足 (literal) → 不足 · bù​zú · insufficient ， (non_chinese) 败事 (literal) → 败事/敗事 · bài​shì · to spoil a matter 有余 (literal) → 有余/有餘 · yǒu​yú · to have extra

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

created sense May 20, 2026, 07:57 PM