费力不讨好

費力不討好

fèilìbùtǎohǎo

idiom

Meanings

1 arduous and thankless task
2 strenuous and unrewarding
3 hard work that earns no thanks

Characters

strength / effort

Examples

替别人写检讨书是费力不讨好的事。

Tì biérén xiě jiǎntǎoshū shì fèilìbùtǎohǎo de shì.

Writing someone else's self-criticism letter is a thankless job.

他觉得当中间人费力不讨好。

Tā juéde dāng zhōngjiānrén fèilìbùtǎohǎo.

He feels being a middleman is hard work for no reward.

Tips

memory

讨好 means 'to win favor / curry favor'. The whole phrase = 'spend effort 费力, but don't 不 win favor 讨好' — i.e. all pain, no credit.

Stroke Order

费 fèi

力 lì

不 bù

讨 tǎo

好 hǎo