千 虑 一 得

qiān lǜ yī dédictionary entry

a thousand tries leads to one success (idiom, humble expr.) / Even without any notable ability on my part, I may still get it right sometimes by good luck.

Sources & editorial notes

Reference definitions: CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source release 2026-10-27T01:55:52Z. Imported 2026-10-27. Definition wording and meaning order are retained. Recognized pronunciation references are displayed with tone marks; the original source record is available below.

Source record: cd-42a4361f899c3b55. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

千慮一得 千虑一得 [qian1 lu:4 yi1 de2] /a thousand tries leads to one success (idiom, humble expr.); Even without any notable ability on my part, I may still get it right sometimes by good luck./

Reference definitions and teaching material have separate provenance.

Reference information

The definitions above are from CC-CEDICT. Examples and usage notes are available on selected entries.

Character information

View the individual characters. Their meanings do not necessarily explain the meaning of the whole word.

Other forms in these source records: 千慮一得

千
qiān
thousand / used in 鞦韆|秋千[qiū qiān]
虑
lǜ
to think over / to consider / anxiety
一
yī
one / single / a (article) / as soon as / entire / whole / all / throughout / "one" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 1) / also pr. [yāo] for greater clarity when spelling out numbers digit by digit
得
dé
to obtain / to get / to gain / to catch (a disease) / proper / suitable / proud / contented / to allow / to permit / ready / finished
dè
used in 得瑟[dè se]
de
structural particle: used after a verb (or adjective as main verb), linking it to following phrase indicating effect, degree, possibility etc
děi
to have to / must / ought to / to need to

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.