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Chinese Character/Word:

Definition(s) for: 磨刀不误砍柴工

Hanzi Pinyin Definition(s)
磨刀不误砍柴工 mó dāo bù wù kǎn chái gōng - lit. sharpening the axe won't make the wood-splitting take longer (idiom)
- fig. time invested in preparations is not lost
- a beard well lathered is half shaved

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
- - - - 62,547

Individual Character Breakdown:

Simp Pinyin Eng
- to rub
- to grind
- to polish
- to sharpen
- to wear down
- to die out
- to waste time
- to pester
- to insist
- grindstone
- to grind
- to turn round
dāo- surname Dao
dāo- knife
- blade
- single-edged sword
- cutlass
- CL:把[ba3]
- (slang) dollar (loanword)
- classifier for sets of one hundred sheets (of paper)
- classifier for knife cuts or stabs
- no; not so
- (bound form) not; un-
- mistake
- error
- to miss
- to harm
- to delay
- to neglect
- mistakenly
kǎn- to chop
- to cut down
- to throw sth at sb
chái- surname Chai
chái- firewood
- lean (of meat)
- thin (of a person)
gōng- work
- worker
- skill
- profession
- trade
- craft
- labor

Other Words Containing 磨刀不误砍柴工

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