杯水车薪
bēi​shuǐ​chē​xīn

utterly inadequate

  • created reference approved 杯水车薪/杯水車薪 → 杯水舆薪/杯水輿薪 (variant) — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    杯水车薪 / 杯水車薪 bēi​shuǐ​chē​xīn

    杯水舆薪 / 杯水輿薪 bēi​shuǐ​yú​xīn

    variant

    Changed: source (simp), source (trad), source pinyin, target (simp), target (trad), target pinyin, type

    created reference

  • created sense approved 杯水车薪/杯水車薪 · bēi​shuǐ​chē​xīn · utterly inadequate — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    杯水车薪 / 杯水車薪

    bēi​shuǐ​chē​xīn

    utterly inadequate

    literally a cup of water to put out a burning cart of firewood; describes a tiny effort or amount that is useless against a huge problem

    杯 (literal) → 杯 · bēi · cup 水 (literal) → 水 · shuǐ · water 车 (literal) → 车/車 · chē · vehicle 薪 (literal) → 薪 · xīn · firewood

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

    created sense