得寸进尺

得寸進尺

décùn-jìnchǐ

idiom #16,310

Meanings

1 give him an inch and he'll want a mile
2 not satisfied with small gains
3 to push one's luck

Characters

to get; to obtain

inch (Chinese unit)

to advance; to enter

foot (Chinese unit, ~33cm)

Examples

你不能对他太好，他会得寸进尺的。

Nǐ bùnéng duì tā tài hǎo, tā huì décùnjìnchǐ de.

You can't be too nice to him, he'll push his luck.

他已经够过分了，还想得寸进尺。

Tā yǐjīng gòu guòfèn le, hái xiǎng décùnjìnchǐ.

He's already gone too far, and still wants to push for more.

Tips

memory

得 (get) 寸 (an inch) 进 (advance to) 尺 (a foot). Win an inch, demand a foot. The Chinese system uses 寸 and 尺, where 1尺 = 10寸 — so the greed multiplies tenfold!

Stroke Order

得 de

寸 cùn

进 jìn

尺 chǐ