鐵杵磨成針
tiě​chǔ​mó​chéng​zhēn

perseverance will prevail

  • created sense approved 铁杵磨成针/鐵杵磨成針 · tiě​chǔ​mó​chéng​zhēn · perseverance will prevail — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    铁杵磨成针 / 鐵杵磨成針

    tiě​chǔ​mó​chéng​zhēn

    perseverance will prevail

    Meaning "to grind an iron pestle into a needle"; an idiom used to describe how anything can be accomplished if one works hard and stays persistent. It refers to a story where the famous poet [[李白|李白|li3 bai2]] was inspired to continue his studies after seeing an old woman trying to grind a thick iron bar into a sewing needle.

    铁 (literal) → 铁/鐵 · tiě · iron 杵 (literal) → 杵 · chǔ · pestle 磨成 (literal) → 磨成 · mó​chéng · to grind into 针 (literal) → 针/針 · zhēn · needle

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

    created sense