失之毫厘，谬以千里
shī​zhī​háo​lí​miù​yǐ​qiān​lǐ

a tiny error leads to a huge mistake

  1. 失 shī nounverb
    mistake
    (bound form) a mistake; a fault; a defect; a mishap
  2. 之 zhī pronoun
    it
    Used only in the object position to refer to a person or thing already mentioned, meaning "him", "her", "it", or "them".
  3. 毫 háo noun
    [unit]
    a unit of measurement meaning one-thousandth of a base unit, such as 毫米 háo​mǐ or 毫克 háo​kè; also used to refer to a currency unit of 0.1 yuan
  4. 厘 釐 lí noun
    [unit of measure]
    (bound form) a unit of weight, length, or area equal to one-thousandth or one-hundredth of a standard unit; specifically one-thousandth of a 元 yuán or 0.05 grams; also used for centi- in metric terms like 厘米 lí​mǐ
  5. ， miù
    non-Chinese
  6. 谬 謬 miù adjectivenoun
    false
    (bound form) false; wrong; absurd; erroneous
  7. 以 yǐ preposition
    by means of
    to use; by means of; with; using the tool or method introduced
  8. 千里 qiān​lǐ
    a thousand li
    one thousand 里 lǐ; approximately 500 kilometers; used metaphorically to mean a very long distance