磨杵成针 — Chinese idiom

Meaning

• to grind an iron bar down to a fine needle ; fig. to persevere in a difficult task
• to study diligently

Character by character

• 磨mómillstone; to grind, to polish, to rub, to wear ou
• 杵chǔpestle; to grind
• 成chéngto accomplish; to become; to complete, to finish;
• 针zhēnneedle, pin, tack; acupuncture

Idioms sharing a character

• 切磋琢磨 qiē cuō zhuó mó
• 卸磨杀驴 xiè mò shā lǘ
• 好事多磨 hǎo shì duō mó
• 磨刀霍霍 mó dāo huò huò
• 磨嘴皮子 mó zuǐ pí zi
• 磨穿铁砚 mó chuān tiě yàn
• 耳鬓厮磨 ěr bìn sī mó
• 临阵磨枪 lín zhèn mó qiāng
• 软磨硬泡 ruǎn mó yìng pào
• 血流漂杵 xuè liú piāo chǔ

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