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万丈高楼平地起

wàn zhàng gāo lóu píng dì qǐdictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
towering buildings are built up from the ground (idiom) / great oaks from little acorns grow
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-d50f9b99179ca771. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

萬丈高樓平地起 万丈高楼平地起 [wan4 zhang4 gao1 lou2 ping2 di4 qi3] /towering buildings are built up from the ground (idiom)/great oaks from little acorns grow/

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: 萬丈高樓平地起

  • 万
    mò

    used in 万俟[Mò qí]

    wàn

    ten thousand / a great number

    Wàn

    surname Wan

  • 丈
    zhàng

    measure of length, ten Chinese feet (3.3 m) / to measure / husband / polite appellation for an older male

  • 高
    gāo

    high / tall / above average / loud / your (honorific)

    Gāo

    surname Gao

  • 楼
    lóu

    house with more than 1 story / storied building / floor / CL:層|层[céng],座[zuò],棟|栋[dòng]

    Lóu

    surname Lou

  • 平
    píng

    flat / level / smooth / to make even / to level / equal / on the same level / (bound form) fair / impartial / to tie / to draw / (bound form) average / ordinary / (bound form) calm / peaceful / (bound form) to quell / to suppress / to put down / (abbr. for 平聲|平声[píng shēng]) / (coll.) square meter (abbr. for 平方米[píng fāng mǐ])

    Píng

    surname Ping

  • 地
    de

    -ly / structural particle: used before a verb or adjective, linking it to preceding modifying adverbial adjunct

    dì

    earth / ground / field / place / land / CL:片[piàn]

  • 起
    qǐ

    to rise / to raise / to get up / to set out / to start / to appear / to launch / to initiate (action) / to draft / to establish / to get (from a depot or counter) / verb suffix, to start / starting from (a time, place, price etc) / classifier for occurrences or unpredictable events: case, instance / classifier for groups: batch, group

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.