打蛇不死，后患无穷
dǎ​shé​bù​sǐ​hòu​huàn​wú​qióng

spare the snake and face the consequences

  • created sense approved 打蛇不死，后患无穷/打蛇不死，後患無窮 · dǎ​shé​bù​sǐ​hòu​huàn​wú​qióng · spare the snake and face the consequences — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    打蛇不死，后患无穷 / 打蛇不死，後患無窮

    dǎ​shé​bù​sǐ​hòu​huàn​wú​qióng

    spare the snake and face the consequences

    If you hit a snake but do not kill it, endless trouble will follow; used to describe failing to finish off an enemy or problem completely, leading to future disaster.

    打 (literal) → 打 · dǎ · to hit 蛇 (literal) → 蛇 · shé · snake 不 (literal) → 不 · bù · not 死 (literal) → 死 · sǐ · to die ， (non_chinese) 后患 (literal) → 后患/後患 · hòu​huàn · future trouble 无穷 (literal) → 无穷/無窮 · wú​qióng · infinite

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

    created sense