顾头不顾尾 — “To act without thorough consideration or proper foresight”

Q: What is the Chinese definition of 顾头不顾尾?

形容做事或考虑事不仔细周到。

顾头不顾尾 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to act without thorough consideration or proper foresight”. To be careless and neglect the overall situation, focusing on one aspect while ignoring others. Literally, “To mind the head but not the tail”.

Frequency

顾头不顾尾 Pronunciation and Pinyin

顾头不顾尾 Character Breakdown

Stroke Order

Character	Pinyin	Strokes	Meaning
顾	gù	10	look back, consider, visit, hire
头	tóu	5	head
不	bù	4	not
顾	gù	10	look back, consider, visit, hire
尾	wěi	7	animal tail, end, follow

Example Sentence with 顾头不顾尾

他在工作中总是顾头不顾尾，导致很多细节被忽略，项目进展受到影响。

He always acts without thorough consideration in his work, leading many details to be overlooked and affecting project progress.

Origin and Story of 顾头不顾尾

Wang Gou'er, a distant relative by marriage to Wang Xifeng, had a son and a daughter. His family lived by farming, though their ancestors had once been high-ranking officials in the capital before their family fortunes declined.

Wang Gou'er was discontented and sulked at home.

His mother-in-law, Granny Liu, chided him, "It's all because when you were young, you enjoyed the blessings of your parents and became accustomed to an easy life. That's why now, when you have money, you act without foresight or thorough consideration, and when you have none, you just get mad for no reason."