揠苗助長

Chinese

		eradicate; pull up	sprout; seedling; descendant sprout; seedling; descendant; symptom of a trend; young; vaccine; Miao tribe	to encourage growth; to foster; to contribute to a development to encourage growth; to foster; to contribute to a development; to drive
trad. (揠苗助長)		揠	苗	助長
simp. (揠苗助长)		揠	苗	助长

Etymology

From Mencius (《孟子·公孫丑上》):

宋人有閔其苗之不長而揠之者，芒芒然歸。謂其人曰：「今日病矣，予助苗長矣。」其子趨而往視之，苗則槁矣。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]

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宋人有闵其苗之不长而揠之者，芒芒然归。谓其人曰：「今日病矣，予助苗长矣。」其子趋而往视之，苗则槁矣。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

From: Mencius, c. 4^th century BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

Sòng rén yǒu mǐn qí miáo zhī bù zhǎng ér yà zhī zhě, mángmángrán guī. Wèi qí rén yuē: “Jīnrì bìng yǐ, yú zhù miáo zhǎng yǐ.” Qí zǐ qū ér wǎng shì zhī, miáo zé gǎo yǐ. [Pinyin]

There was a man of Song, who was grieved that his growing corn was not longer, and so he pulled it up. Having done this, he returned home, looking very troubled, and said to his people, “I am tired today. I have been helping the corn to grow long.” His son ran to look at it, and found the corn all withered.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): yàmiáozhùzhǎng

  (Zhuyin): ㄧㄚˋ ㄇㄧㄠˊ ㄓㄨˋ ㄓㄤˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): aat³ miu⁴ zo⁶ zoeng²
• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): at-biâu-chō͘-tióng

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: yàmiáozhùzhǎng
    • Zhuyin: ㄧㄚˋ ㄇㄧㄠˊ ㄓㄨˋ ㄓㄤˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: yàmiáojhùjhǎng
    • Wade–Giles: ya⁴-miao²-chu⁴-chang³
    • Yale: yà-myáu-jù-jǎng
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: yahmiaujuhjaang
    • Palladius: ямяочжучжан (jamjaočžučžan)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /jä⁵¹ mi̯ɑʊ̯³⁵ ʈ͡ʂu⁵¹ ʈ͡ʂɑŋ²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
      
  • (Standard Chinese, erhua-ed)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: yàmiáorzhùzhǎng
    • Zhuyin: ㄧㄚˋ ㄇㄧㄠˊㄦ ㄓㄨˋ ㄓㄤˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: yàmiáorjhùjhǎng
    • Wade–Giles: ya⁴-miao²-ʼrh-chu⁴-chang³
    • Yale: yà-myáur-jù-jǎng
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: yahmiauljuhjaang
    • Palladius: ямяорчжучжан (jamjaorčžučžan)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /jä⁵¹ mi̯aʊ̯ɻʷ³⁵ ʈ͡ʂu⁵¹ ʈ͡ʂɑŋ²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: aat³ miu⁴ zo⁶ zoeng²
    • Yale: aat mìuh joh jéung
    • Cantonese Pinyin: aat⁸ miu⁴ dzo⁶ dzoeng²
    • Guangdong Romanization: ad³ miu⁴ zo⁶ zêng²
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /aːt̚³ miːu̯²¹ t͡sɔː²² t͡sœːŋ³⁵/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: at-biâu-chō͘-tióng
    • Tâi-lô: at-biâu-tsōo-tióng
    • Phofsit Daibuun: atbiauzoxdiorng
    • IPA (Xiamen): /at̚³²⁻⁴ biau²⁴⁻²² t͡sɔ²²⁻²¹ tiɔŋ⁵³/

Idiom

揠苗助長

1. (figurative) to be hasty and use inappropriate methods in order to achieve a goal quickly, but by doing so ruin things instead and fail in the end

Synonyms

• 拔苗助長／拔苗助长 (bámiáozhùzhǎng)