玉不琢，不成器
yù​bù​zhuó​bù​chéng​qì

one must be disciplined to be a useful person

  • created sense approved 玉不琢，不成器 · yù​bù​zhuó​bù​chéng​qì · one must be disciplined to be a useful person — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    玉不琢，不成器

    yù​bù​zhuó​bù​chéng​qì

    one must be disciplined to be a useful person

    literally meaning jade must be carved to become a valuable vessel; used to mean that a person must undergo education, training, or hardship to develop their character and achieve great things

    玉 (literal) → 玉 · yù · jade 不 (literal) → 不 · bù · not 琢 (literal) → 琢 · zhuó · to carve jade ， (non_chinese) 不成器 (literal) → 不成器 · bù​chéng​qì · unshaped

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

    created sense