只要功夫深,鐵杵磨成針
Chinese edit
as long as; provided; so long as | time; efforts | deep; profound | grindstone; to sharpen; to delay grindstone; to sharpen; to delay; hardship; to grind; to rub |
finish; complete; accomplish finish; complete; accomplish; become; turn into; win; succeed; one tenth |
needle; pin; injection | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
trad. (只要功夫深,鐵杵磨成針) | 只要 | 功夫 | 深 | , | 鐵杵 | 磨 | 成 | 針 | |
simp. (只要功夫深,铁杵磨成针) | 只要 | 功夫 | 深 | , | 铁杵 | 磨 | 成 | 针 | |
alternative forms | |||||||||
Literally: “If you work at it hard enough, you can grind an iron bar into a needle.” |
Etymology edit
From a story about poet Li Bai, recorded in Fangyu Shenglan (《方輿勝覽》).
Pronunciation edit
Proverb edit
只要功夫深,鐵杵磨成針
Descendants edit
- → Vietnamese: có công mài sắt có ngày nên kim (calque)