拔苗助长 — “To spoil things by excessive enthusiasm or by acting with undue haste”
拔苗助长 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to spoil things by excessive enthusiasm or by acting with undue haste”. To use improper methods to achieve quick success, often resulting in failure. Literally, “Pull up sprouts to help them grow”.
拔苗助长 Pronunciation and Pinyin
拔苗助长 Character Breakdown
Stroke OrderExample Sentence with 拔苗助长
Origin and Story of 拔苗助长
A long time ago, in the State of Song, there was a farmer who worried that his rice shoots were not growing tall enough. He went to check his field every day.
Three days passed, but the shoots showed no significant change. He came up with an idea, rushed to the field, and pulled up each shoot a little higher.
When he returned home, he proudly told his son that the shoots had grown much taller. His son ran to the field to see, only to find that all the shoots had withered and died.
Idioms Related to 拔苗助长
Synonyms of 拔苗助长
More idioms starting with 拔
- bá拔dīng丁chōu抽xiē楔resolve difficulties or remove obstacles
- bá拔bù不chū出jiǎo脚bogged down, unable to free oneself
- bá拔bù不chū出tuǐ腿unable to extricate oneself
- bá拔cóng丛chū出lèi类to stand out from the crowd
- bá拔le了luó萝bo卜dì地pí皮kuān宽remove obstacles to expand influence
- bá拔dāo刀xiāng相zhù助draw sword and help someone in trouble
- bá拔dāo刀xiāng相xiàng向turn hostile and resort to violence
- bá拔dāo刀xiāng相jì济draw sword to help someone in distress
- bá拔rèn刃zhāng张nǔ弩Tense and poised for conflict
- bá拔jiàn剑lùn论gōng功fiercely argue over one's achievements
- bá拔shí十shī失wǔ五select ten, lose five
- bá拔shí十dé得wǔ五difficult to select suitable talent
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Open the tool →Questions about 拔苗助长
What does 拔苗助长 mean?
拔苗助长 (bá miáo zhù zhǎng) is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to spoil things by excessive enthusiasm or by acting with undue haste”.
How do you pronounce 拔苗助长?
拔苗助长 is pronounced bá miáo zhù zhǎng in Mandarin Chinese.
What does 拔苗助长 literally mean?
Literally, 拔苗助长 means “Pull up sprouts to help them grow”. It is used to mean “to spoil things by excessive enthusiasm or by acting with undue haste”.
Where does 拔苗助长 come from?
拔苗助长 comes from a classical Chinese story dating back to modern Chinese. The full story is on this page.
What is the Chinese definition of 拔苗助长?
比喻违反事物发展的客观规律，急于求成，反而坏事。
