得来全不费功夫

得來全不費功夫

dé lái quán bú fèi gōngfu

quotation

Meanings

1 obtaining it cost no effort at all
2 unexpectedly easy acquisition after long struggle

Characters

(directional complement) come

to expend, cost

(forms 功夫 = effort)

Examples

HSK 7-9

踏破铁鞋无觅处，得来全不费功夫。

Tàpòtiěxiéwúmìchù, déláiquánbúfèigōngfu.

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

HSK 7-9

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 yì nián, jīntiān yì kāi huìyì jìng déláiquánbúfèigōngfu.

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

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 de

来 lái

全 quán

不 bù

费 fèi

功 gōng

夫 fū