小洞不堵，大洞受苦 in English xiao3 dong4 bu4 du3 , da4 dong4 shou4 ku3 Meaning

Meanings

  • A small hole not plugged will make you suffer a big hole (idiomatic expression); A stitch in time saves nine.

Simplified Characters

小 洞 不 堵 ， 大 洞 受 苦

Traditional Characters

小 洞 不 堵 ， 大 洞 受 苦

Pinyin

xiao3 dong4 bu4 du3 , da4 dong4 shou4 ku3

Literal

Literal explanation, with pronunciation and meaning of each character.

小xiao3small 洞dong4cave 不bu4(negative prefix) 堵du3to block up (a road, pipe etc) ， 大da4big 洞dong4cave 受shou4to receive 苦ku3bitter