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Chinese/Dictionary entry

行百里者半九十

xíng bǎi lǐ zhě bàn jiǔ shídictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
lit. ninety li is merely a half of a hundred li journey (idiom) / fig. the closer one is to completing a task, the tougher it gets / a task is not done until it's done
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-db11942ccc1c90a8. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

行百里者半九十 行百里者半九十 [xing2 bai3 li3 zhe3 ban4 jiu3 shi2] /lit. ninety li is merely a half of a hundred li journey (idiom)/fig. the closer one is to completing a task, the tougher it gets/a task is not done until it's done/

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.

  • 行
    háng

    (bound form) row / line / (bound form) line of business / trade / profession / (bound form) commercial firm / (bound form) to rank (first, second etc) among one's siblings (by age) / (in data tables) row / (Tw) column / classifier for rows or lines

    héng

    used in 道行[dào héng]

    xíng

    (bound form) to walk / to go / to travel / (literary) trip / journey / visit / (bound form) temporary / makeshift / (bound form) current / in circulation / (bound form) to do / to perform / capable / competent / all right / OK! / will do / behavior / conduct (Taiwan pr. [xìng]) / (literary) about to / soon

  • 百
    bǎi

    hundred / numerous / all kinds of

    Bǎi

    surname Bai

  • 里
    lǐ

    lining / interior / inside / internal / also written 裏|里[lǐ] / li, ancient measure of length, approx. 500 m / neighborhood / ancient administrative unit of 25 families / (Tw) borough, administrative unit between the township 鎮|镇[zhèn] and neighborhood 鄰|邻[lín] levels

    Lǐ

    surname Li

  • 者
    zhě

    (after a verb or adjective) one who (is) ... / (after a noun) person involved in ... / -er / -ist / (used after a number or 後|后[hòu] or 前[qián] to refer to sth mentioned previously) / (used after a term, to mark a pause before defining the term) / (old) (used at the end of a command) / (old) this

  • 半
    bàn

    half / semi- / incomplete / (after a number) and a half

  • 九
    jiǔ

    nine / 9

  • 十
    shí

    ten / 10

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.