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Chinese Character/Word:

Definition(s) for: 杯水车薪

Hanzi Pinyin Definition(s)
杯水车薪 bēi shuǐ chē xīn - lit. a cup of water on a burning cart of firewood (idiom); fig. an utterly inadequate measure

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
- - 39,476 36,844 47,331

Individual Character Breakdown:

Simp Pinyin Eng
bēi- cup
- trophy cup
- classifier for certain containers of liquids: glass, cup
bēi- variant of 杯[bei1]
bēi- variant of 杯[bei1]
- trophy cup
- classifier for certain containers of liquids: glass, cup
shuǐ- surname Shui
shuǐ- water
- (after a name) ... River
- to swim (used mostly in 會水|会水[hui4shui3] and 水性[shui3xing4])
- (coll.) lacking in substance; shoddy
- (bound form) additional cost; extra income
- classifier for washings of a garment
chē- surname Che
chē- car
- vehicle
- CL:輛|辆[liang4]
- machine
- to shape with a lathe
- Kangxi radical 159
- war chariot (archaic)
- rook (in Chinese chess)
- rook (in chess)
xīn- (literary) firewood; fuel
- (bound form) salary

Other Words Containing 杯水车薪

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
杯水车薪 - - 39,476 36,844 47,331