得来全不费功夫

得來全不費功夫

déláiquánbùfèigōngfu

phrase

Meanings

1 obtaining it cost no effort at all
2 unexpectedly easy acquisition after long struggle
3 lit. get-come — entirely — not — expend — effort

Characters

(directional complement) come

to expend, cost

(forms 功夫 = effort)

Examples

踏破铁鞋无觅处，得来全不费功夫。

Tàpò tiě xié wú mì chù, dé lái quán bù fèi gōngfu.

I wore out iron shoes searching and found nothing — and in the end it took no effort at all.

资料他苦找一年，今天一开会议竟得来全不费功夫。

Zīliào tā kǔ zhǎo yī nián, jīntiān yī kāi huìyì jìng dé lái quán bù fèi gōngfu.

He hunted for the data bitterly for a year; today at a meeting it dropped into his lap with no effort at all.

Tips

history

From the Ming novel 《水浒传》 chapter 36 and circulated widely in Ming-Qing fiction: 踏破铁鞋无觅处，得来全不费功夫 — 'I wore out iron shoes with no place to find it; when it came, it took no effort at all.' A household couplet in Chinese — the perfect phrase for the experience of searching everywhere and then stumbling onto the thing by accident.

usage

Always cited with its setup 踏破铁鞋无觅处. 功夫 here = 'effort / labor', not 'kung fu (martial art)' — the two senses share the same written form.

Stroke Order

得 dé

来 lái

全 quán

不 bù

费 fèi

功 gōng

夫 fū