kuì
noun

Meanings

  1. 1 bamboo basket for carrying earth

Examples

九仞功亏一篑
Wéi shān jiǔrèn, gōngkuīyīkuì.
Building a nine-fathom mound fails for want of one last basket of earth.
Xiànzài fàngqì jiù gōngkuīyīkuì le, bìxū jiānchí xiàqù.
Giving up now would be failing for one last basketful; we must keep going.

Tips

culture
Survives almost only in the idiom 功亏一篑 ('to fall short by one basket of earth'), meaning a great effort ruined right at the finish for lack of a final small push.

Components

radical
zhú
bamboo (radical form)
The bamboo radical on top, the cap form of . Baskets were woven from bamboo, so it marks this as a bamboo container, the same family as (basket).
phonetic
guì
expensive; phonetic
Expensive, supplying the sound; guì shifts to kuì. It is phonetic here; the same element gives and .

Stroke Order

kuì