| 功亏一篑 |
gōng kuī yī kuì |
lit. to ruin the enterprise for the sake of one basketful / to fail through lack of a final effort / to spoil the ship for a ha'penny worth of tar (idiom) |
| 功 |
gōng |
meritorious deed or service / achievement / result / service / accomplishment / work (physics) |
| 亏 |
kuī |
to lose (money); to have a deficit / to be deficient / to treat unfairly / luckily; fortunately; thanks to / (used to introduce an ironic remark about sb who has fallen short of expectations) |
| 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 |
| 篑 |
kuì |
basket for carrying soil |