| 八字还没一撇 |
bā zì hái méi yī piě |
lit. not even the first stroke of the character 八 has been written (idiom) / fig. things have not even gotten started yet; nothing tangible has come of one's plans yet |
| 八 |
bā |
eight |
| 八字 |
bā zì |
the character 8 or 八 / birthdate characters used in fortune-telling |
| 字 |
zì |
letter / symbol / character / word / CL:个 / courtesy or style name traditionally given to males aged 20 in dynastic China |
| 还 |
Huán |
surname Huan |
| 还 |
hái |
still / still in progress / still more / yet / even more / in addition / fairly / passably (good) / as early as / even / also / else |
| 还 |
huán |
to pay back / to return |
| 没 |
méi |
(negative prefix for verbs) have not; not |
| 没 |
mò |
drowned / to end / to die / to inundate |
| 一 |
yī |
one / single / a (article) / as soon as / entire; whole; all; throughout / "one" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 1) / also pr. [yao1] for greater clarity when spelling out numbers digit by digit |
| 撇 |
piē |
to cast away / to fling aside |
| 撇 |
piě |
to throw / to cast / left-slanting downward brush stroke (calligraphy) |