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贪小失大

tān xiǎo shī dà

4-character word Traditional 貪小失大

What 贪小失大 means

1. penny wise and pound foolish (idiom)

The characters in 贪小失大

• 贪tānto have a voracious desire for; to covet; greedy
• 小xiǎosmall; tiny; few
• 失shīto lose; to miss; to fail
• 大dàbig; large; great; older (than another person); eldest (as in 大姐

Go deeper

• The four tones and the neutral tone, to read tān xiǎo shī dà correctly.
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