截长补短 — Chinese idiom

Meaning

• take from the long to supplement the short
• to offset each other's deficiencies
• to complement each other

Character by character

• 截jiéto cut off, to obstruct, to stop; segment; interse
• 长chánglong, lasting; to excel in
• 补bǔto fix, to mend, to patch, to restore
• 短duǎnbrief, short; deficient, lacking

Idioms sharing a character

• 斩钉截铁 zhǎn dīng jié tiě
• 直截了当 zhí jié liǎo dàng
• 一技之长 yī jì zhī cháng
• 一长一短 yī cháng yī duǎn
• 来日方长 lái rì fāng cháng
• 各显所长 gè xiǎn suǒ cháng
• 土生土长 tǔ shēng tǔ zhǎng
• 大排长龙 dà pái cháng lóng
• 天长地久 tiān cháng dì jiǔ
• 天长日久 tiān cháng rì jiǔ

Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3). Retrieved 2026-10-22.