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小惩大诫

xiǎo chéng dà jiè

4-character word Traditional 小懲大誡

What 小惩大诫 means

1. lit. to punish a little to prevent a lot (idiom); to criticize former mistakes firmly to prevent large scale repetition

The characters in 小惩大诫

• 小xiǎosmall; tiny; few
• 惩chéngto punish; to reprimand; to warn
• 大dàbig; large; great; older (than another person); eldest (as in 大姐
• 诫jiècommandment; to prohibit

Go deeper

• The four tones and the neutral tone, to read xiǎo chéng dà jiè correctly.
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