Dictionary › 小洞不补大洞吃苦

小洞不补大洞吃苦

xiǎo dòng bù bǔ dà dòng chī kǔ

8-character word Traditional 小洞不補大洞吃苦

What 小洞不补大洞吃苦 means

1. A small hole not plugged will make you suffer a big hole (idiom); a stitch in time saves nine

The characters in 小洞不补大洞吃苦

• 小xiǎosmall; tiny; few
• 洞dòngcave; hole; zero (unambiguous spoken form when spelling out numbers)
• 不bùno; not so; (bound form) not; un-
• 补bǔto repair; to patch; to mend
• 大dàbig; large; great; older (than another person); eldest (as in 大姐
• 洞dòngcave; hole; zero (unambiguous spoken form when spelling out numbers)
• 吃chīto eat; to consume; to eat at (a cafeteria etc); to eradicate; to destroy
• 苦kǔbitter; hardship; pain