舍本求末
shě​běn​qiú​mò

to neglect the fundamentals for the trivial

  • created sense approved 舍本求末/捨本求末 · shě​běn​qiú​mò · to neglect the fundamentals for the trivial — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    舍本求末 / 捨本求末

    shě​běn​qiú​mò

    to neglect the fundamentals for the trivial

    to attend to the superficial while neglecting the essentials; to chase the branch and forget the root

    舍 (literal) → 舍/捨 · shě · to give up 本 (literal) → 本 · běn · origin 求 (literal) → 求 · qiú · to seek 末 (literal) → 末 · mò · nonessentials

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

    created sense