| 万丈高楼平地起 |
wàn zhàng gāo lóu píng dì qǐ |
towering buildings are built up from the ground (idiom) / great oaks from little acorns grow |
| 万 |
mò |
used in 万俟 |
| 万 |
Wàn |
surname Wan |
| 万 |
wàn |
ten thousand / a great number |
| 万丈 |
wàn zhàng |
lit. ten thousand fathoms / fig. extremely high or deep / lofty / bottomless |
| 丈 |
zhàng |
measure of length, ten Chinese feet (3.3 m) / to measure / husband / polite appellation for an older male |
| 高 |
Gāo |
surname Gao |
| 高 |
gāo |
high / tall / above average / loud / your (honorific) |
| 高楼 |
gāo lóu |
high building / multistory building / skyscraper / CL:座 |
| 楼 |
Lóu |
surname Lou |
| 楼 |
lóu |
house with more than 1 story / storied building / floor / CL:层,座,栋 |
| 平 |
Píng |
surname Ping |
| 平 |
píng |
flat / level / equal / to tie (make the same score) / to draw (score) / calm / peaceful / abbr. for 平声 |
| 平地 |
píng dì |
to level the land / level ground / plain |
| 地 |
de |
-ly / structural particle: used before a verb or adjective, linking it to preceding modifying adverbial adjunct |
| 地 |
dì |
earth / ground / field / place / land / CL:片 |
| 起 |
qǐ |
to rise / to raise / to get up / to set out / to start / to appear / to launch / to initiate (action) / to draft / to establish / to get (from a depot or counter) / verb suffix, to start / starting from (a time, place, price etc) / classifier for occurrences or unpredictable events: case, instance / classifier for groups: batch, group |