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Chinese Character/Word:

Definition(s) for: 偷鸡不成蚀把米

Hanzi Pinyin Definition(s)
偷鸡不成蚀把米 tōu jī bù chéng shí bǎ mǐ - lit. to try to steal a chicken only to end up losing the rice used to lure it (idiom)
- fig. to try to gain an advantage only to end up worse off
- to go for wool and come back shorn

List Ranking:

Where rank 1 is most common, and higher numbers are less common.

HSK 2 Level (2012) HSK 3 Band (2022) SUBTLEX-CH BeijingUni Global BeijingUni Weibo
- - - - 82,373

Individual Character Breakdown:

Simp Pinyin Eng
tōu- to steal
- to pilfer
- to snatch
- thief
- stealthily
- fowl
- chicken
- CL:隻|只[zhi1]
- (slang) prostitute
- no; not so
- (bound form) not; un-
chéng- surname Cheng
- short name for Chengdu 成都[Cheng2du1]
chéng- to succeed
- to finish
- to complete
- to accomplish
- to become
- to turn into
- to be all right
- OK!
- one tenth
shí- to nibble away at sth
- to eat into
- to erode
- to hold; to grasp
- to hold a baby in position to help it urinate or defecate
- handlebar
- classifier: handful, bundle, bunch
- classifier for things with handles
- (used to put the object before the verb: 把[ba3] + {noun} + {verb})
- handle
- surname Mi
- uncooked rice
- meter (unit of length)
- (slang) Chinese yuan

Other Words Containing 偷鸡不成蚀把米

Sorted by the 'SUBTLEX-CH' rank because that seems like the most reliable. Words without a SUBTLEX-CH rank are ignored for being too rare.

Word HSK 2 Level (2012) HSK 3 Band (2022) SUBTLEX-CH BeijingUni Global BeijingUni Weibo