四兩撥千斤

See also: 四两拨千斤

Chinese

		four	both; two; some both; two; some; a few; tael	to push aside; to appropriate (money); to move to push aside; to appropriate (money); to move; to set aside; group; batch; to poke; to stir	thousand	catty; weight equal to 0.5 kg
trad. (四兩撥千斤)		四	兩	撥	千	斤
simp. (四两拨千斤)		四	两	拨	千	斤
Literally: “four ounces yields 1000 catties”.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): sìliǎngbōqiānjīn

  (Zhuyin): ㄙˋ ㄌㄧㄤˇ ㄅㄛ ㄑㄧㄢ ㄐㄧㄣ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): sei³ loeng^5-2 but⁶ cin¹ gan¹

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: sìliǎngbōqiānjīn
    • Zhuyin: ㄙˋ ㄌㄧㄤˇ ㄅㄛ ㄑㄧㄢ ㄐㄧㄣ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: sìhliǎngbocianjin
    • Wade–Giles: ssŭ⁴-liang³-po¹-chʻien¹-chin¹
    • Yale: sz̀-lyǎng-bwō-chyān-jīn
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: syhleangbochianjin
    • Palladius: сылянбоцяньцзинь (syljanbocjanʹczinʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sz̩⁵¹ li̯ɑŋ²¹⁴⁻²¹ pu̯ɔ⁵⁵ t͡ɕʰi̯ɛn⁵⁵ t͡ɕin⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: sei³ loeng^5-2 but⁶ cin¹ gan¹
    • Yale: sei léung buht chīn gān
    • Cantonese Pinyin: sei³ loeng^5-2 but⁹ tsin¹ gan¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: séi³ lêng^5-2 bud⁶ qin¹ gen¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sei̯³³ lœːŋ¹³⁻³⁵ puːt̚² t͡sʰiːn⁵⁵ kɐn⁵⁵/

Idiom

四兩撥千斤

1. a huge return for a very small investment; a big payoff for a small effort

Synonyms

• (Hokkien) 四兩破千斤／四两破千斤