零 敲 碎 打

líng qiāo suì dǎdictionary entry

to do things in bits and pieces (idiom) / piecemeal 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-f630f565922dce8c. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

零敲碎打零敲碎打 [ling2 qiao1 sui4 da3] /to do things in bits and pieces (idiom); piecemeal 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.

零
líng
zero / nought / zero sign / fractional / fragmentary / odd (of numbers) / (placed between two numbers to indicate a smaller quantity followed by a larger one) / fraction / (in mathematics) remainder (after division) / extra / to wither and fall / to wither
敲
qiāo
to hit / to strike / to tap / to rap / to knock / to rip sb off / to overcharge
碎
suì
(transitive or intransitive) to break into pieces / to shatter / to crumble / broken / fragmentary / scattered / garrulous
打
dá
(loanword) dozen / Taiwan pr. [dǎ]
dǎ
to hit / to strike / to fight / (in many expressions) a semantically light transitive verb used with various objects to form expressions with a wide range of meanings, e.g. 打傘|打伞[dǎ sǎn] "to hold an umbrella", 打電話|打电话[dǎ diàn huà] "to make a phone call", 打針|打针[dǎ zhēn] "to get an injection" / (coll.) from / since

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.