九牛一毛

jiǔniúyīmáo

idiom

Meanings

1 lit. one hair from nine oxen
2 a drop in the ocean; an utterly trivial amount

Characters

Examples

对富豪来说，这点钱不过是九牛一毛。

Duì fùháo lái shuō, zhè diǎn qián bùguò shì jiǔniúyīmáo.

To a billionaire, this amount of money is nothing but a drop in the ocean.

我的贡献和他的相比，只是九牛一毛。

Wǒ de gòngxiàn hé tā de xiāngbǐ, zhǐshì jiǔniúyīmáo.

My contribution compared to his is just one hair out of nine oxen.

Tips

history

From Sima Qian's 《报任少卿书》 (Han dynasty): if he were executed, it would be "like losing one hair from nine oxen" — worth no more than an ant's life. Written after he chose castration over death to finish the 《史记》.

memory

Nine oxen × countless hairs each — losing one is imperceptible. English "drop in the bucket" captures the same ratio.

Stroke Order

九 jiǔ

牛 niú

一 yī

毛 máo