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偷工减料

tōu gōng jiǎn liàodictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
to skimp on the job and stint on materials (idiom) / jerry-building / sloppy work
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-da750419a18738cb. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

偷工減料 偷工减料 [tou1 gong1 jian3 liao4] /to skimp on the job and stint on materials (idiom)/jerry-building/sloppy work/

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: 偷工減料

  • 偷
    tōu

    to steal / (bound form) thief / (bound form) secretly / on the sly

  • 工
    gōng

    work / worker / skill / profession / trade / craft / labor

  • 减
    jiǎn

    to lower / to decrease / to reduce / to subtract / to diminish

  • 料
    liào

    material / stuff / grain / feed / to expect / to anticipate / to guess

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.