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杯水车薪

bēi shuǐ chē xīndictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
lit. a cup of water on a burning cart of firewood (idiom) / fig. an utterly inadequate measure
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-493b50e1388f5764. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

杯水車薪 杯水车薪 [bei1 shui3 che1 xin1] /lit. a cup of water on a burning cart of firewood (idiom); fig. an utterly inadequate measure/

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: 杯水車薪

  • 杯
    bēi

    cup / trophy cup / classifier for certain containers of liquids: glass, cup

  • 水
    shuǐ

    water / (after a name) ... River / to swim (used mostly in 會水|会水[huì shuǐ] and 水性[shuǐ xìng]) / (coll.) lacking in substance / shoddy / (bound form) additional cost / extra income / classifier for washings of a garment

    Shuǐ

    surname Shui / Shui ethnic group

  • 车
    chē

    car / vehicle / CL:輛|辆[liàng] / machine / to shape with a lathe / Kangxi radical 159

    jū

    war chariot (archaic) / rook (in Chinese chess) / rook (in chess)

    Chē

    surname Che

  • 薪
    xīn

    (literary) firewood / fuel / (bound form) salary

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.