| 永不生锈的螺丝钉 |
yǒng bù shēng xiù de luó sī dīng |
a "screw that never rusts" — sb who is a loyal, dependable, humble contributor who quietly holds everything together and never fails in their duty, like Lei Feng 雷锋, to whom the metaphor is attributed |
| 永 |
yǒng |
forever / always / perpetual |
| 永不 |
yǒng bù |
never / will never |
| 不 |
bù |
no; not so / (bound form) not; un- |
| 生 |
shēng |
to be born / to give birth / life / to grow / raw / uncooked / student |
| 生锈 |
shēng xiù |
(of metal) to rust; to become rusty / (fig.) (of a skill etc) to get rusty; to deteriorate |
| 锈 |
xiù |
variant of 锈 |
| 锈 |
xiù |
to rust |
| 的 |
de |
of; ~'s (possessive particle) / (used after an attribute when it modifies a noun) / (used at the end of a declarative sentence for emphasis) / (used after a noun, verb or adjective to form a nominal expression, as in 皮革的 "one made of leather" or 跑堂儿的 "a waiter (literally, one who runs back and forth in a restaurant)" or 新的 "new one") / also pr. [di4] or [di5] in poetry and songs |
| 的 |
dī |
a taxi; a cab (abbr. for 的士) |
| 的 |
dí |
really and truly |
| 的 |
dì |
(bound form) bull's-eye; target |
| 螺 |
luó |
spiral shell / snail / conch |
| 螺丝 |
luó sī |
screw |
| 螺丝钉 |
luó sī dīng |
screw |
| 丝 |
sī |
silk / thread-like thing; (cuisine) shreds or julienne strips / classifier: a trace (of smoke etc), a tiny bit etc |
| 钉 |
dīng |
nail / to follow closely / to keep at sb (to do sth) / variant of 盯 |
| 钉 |
dìng |
to join things together by fixing them in place at one or more points / to nail / to pin / to staple / to sew on |