小惩大诫 in English xiao3 cheng2 da4 jie4 Meaning

Meanings

  • literally (word for word) to punish a little to prevent a lot (idiomatic expression); to criticize former mistakes firmly to prevent large scale repetition

Simplified Characters

小 惩 大 诫

Traditional Characters

小 懲 大 誡

Pinyin

xiao3 cheng2 da4 jie4

Literal

Literal explanation, with pronunciation and meaning of each character.

小xiao3small 惩cheng2to punish 大da4big 诫jie4commandment