| 打蛇不死，后患无穷 |
dǎ shé bù sǐ , hòu huàn wú qióng |
(idiom) if you beat the snake without killing it, endless evils will ensue |
| 打 |
dá |
(loanword) dozen / Taiwan pr. [da3] |
| 打 |
dǎ |
a semantically light, transitive verb that is combined with various grammatical objects to form compound verbs and verb-object phrases with a diverse range of meanings (e.g. 打伞 "to hold an umbrella", 打电话 "to make a phone call", 打针 "to get an injection", 打手套 "to knit gloves", 打气 "to inflate") / to hit; to strike / to fight / (coll.) from; since (as in 打那以后 "since then") |
| 蛇 |
shé |
variant of 蛇 |
| 蛇 |
shé |
snake / serpent / CL:条 |
| 蛇 |
yí |
used in 委蛇 |
| 不 |
bù |
no; not so / (bound form) not; un- |
| 死 |
sǐ |
to die / impassable / uncrossable / inflexible / rigid / extremely / damned |
| 后 |
Hòu |
surname Hou |
| 后 |
hòu |
empress / queen / (archaic) monarch / ruler |
| 后 |
hòu |
back / behind / rear / afterwards / after / later / post- |
| 后患无穷 |
hòu huàn wú qióng |
(idiom) there will be no end of trouble in the future |
| 患 |
huàn |
to suffer (from illness) / to contract (a disease) / misfortune / trouble / danger / worry |
| 无 |
mó |
used in 南无 |
| 无 |
wú |
not to have / no / none / not / to lack / un- / -less |
| 无穷 |
wú qióng |
endless / boundless / inexhaustible |
| 穷 |
qióng |
poor / destitute / to use up / to exhaust / thoroughly / extremely / (coll.) persistently and pointlessly |