磨杵成针 — Chinese idiom
磨杵成针
mó chǔ chéng zhēn
Traditional: 磨杵成針
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.