四兩撥千斤

四兩撥千斤

See also: 四两拨千斤

Chinese

		four	both; two; ounce both; two; ounce; some; a few; tael	to push aside; to appropriate (money); to move to push aside; to appropriate (money); to move; to set aside; group; batch; to poke; to stir	thousand	catty; weight equal to 0.5 kg
trad. (四兩撥千斤)		四	兩	撥	千	斤
simp. (四两拨千斤)		四	两	拨	千	斤

Etymology

Literally: four ounces yields 1000 catties

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): sì liǎng bō qiān jīn

  (Zhuyin): ㄙˋ ㄌㄧㄤˇ ㄅㄛ ㄑㄧㄢ ㄐㄧㄣ

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Pinyin: sì liǎng bō qiān jīn
    • Zhuyin: ㄙˋ ㄌㄧㄤˇ ㄅㄛ ㄑㄧㄢ ㄐㄧㄣ
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: syh leang bo chian jin
    • Tongyong Pinyin: sìh liǎng bo cian jin
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sz̩⁵¹ ljɑŋ²¹⁴⁻²¹¹ pwɔ⁵⁵ t͡ɕʰjɛn⁵⁵ t͡ɕin⁵⁵/

Idiom

四兩撥千斤

1. a huge return for a very small investment; a big payoff for a small effort