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画蛇添足

huà shé tiān zú

Old HSK 6 HSK 3.0 level 7-9 4-character word Traditional 畫蛇添足

画蛇添足 (huà shé tiān zú) means "lit. draw legs on a snake (idiom); fig. to ruin the effect by adding sth superfluous; to overdo it". It is an HSK 3.0 level 7-9 word, and was HSK 6 in the old six-level list.

What 画蛇添足 means

1. lit. draw legs on a snake (idiom); fig. to ruin the effect by adding sth superfluous
2. to overdo it

The characters in 画蛇添足

• 画huàto draw; to paint; picture; painting; to draw (a line) (variant of 划
• 蛇shésnake; serpent
• 添tiānto add; to increase; to replenish
• 足zú(bound form) foot; leg; sufficient; ample; as much as; fully

Example sentences

• 不要画蛇添足。
  Bù yào huàshétiānzú.
  Let well alone.

Where 画蛇添足 is taught

In the GraphChinese course it is part of HSK 6 Vocabulary · huā–Hù (HSK 6), each one a topic in the dependency graph of HSK 1–6 that opens only once its prerequisites are solid.

Go deeper

• Every HSK 6 word, with the rest of its level.
• The four tones and the neutral tone, to read huà shé tiān zú correctly.
• Look up another word in the free dictionary.