铁杵磨成针

鐵杵磨成針

tiěchǔmóchéngzhēn

idiom

Meanings

1 to grind an iron pestle into a needle
2 with enough perseverance, any task can be accomplished
3 slow and steady effort conquers anything

Characters

Examples

学外语就像铁杵磨成针，贵在坚持。

Xué wàiyǔ jiù xiàng tiě chǔ mó chéng zhēn, guì zài jiānchí.

Learning a foreign language is like grinding an iron pestle into a needle — what matters is perseverance.

他用十年时间磨出一本词典，真是铁杵磨成针。

Tā yòng shí nián shíjiān mó chū yī běn cídiǎn, zhēnshì tiě chǔ mó chéng zhēn.

He spent ten years grinding out a dictionary — truly grinding an iron pestle into a needle.

Tips

history

From Zhu Mu's 《方舆胜览·眉州·磨针溪》 (Song dynasty), relating a legend about Li Bai: as a boy he gave up on his studies and wandered off, but by a stream he met an old woman grinding an iron pestle. She said, 'I want to make it into a needle.' Moved, Li Bai returned to his books and finished his studies. The Xinhua chengyu dictionary cites this text as the source.

usage

Often expanded to 只要功夫深，铁杵磨成针 ('as long as one puts in deep effort, an iron pestle can be ground into a needle').

Stroke Order

铁 tiě

杵 chǔ

磨 mó

成 chéng

针 zhēn