小洞不堵，大洞难补 in English xiao3 dong4 bu4 du3 , da4 dong4 nan2 bu3 Meaning

Meanings

  • If you don't plug the small hole, the big hole will be hard to repair (idiomatic expression); A stitch in time saves nine.

Simplified Characters

小 洞 不 堵 ， 大 洞 难 补

Traditional Characters

小 洞 不 堵 ， 大 洞 難 補

Pinyin

xiao3 dong4 bu4 du3 , da4 dong4 nan2 bu3

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 难nan2difficult (to...) 补bu3to repair