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一毛不拔 (yī máo bù bá) — (idiom) stingy, miserly

Definition

Literally 'won't pull out even one hair' — a vivid idiom for extreme stinginess. Stronger and more colorful than the everyday 小气; close to 吝啬 in force but more colloquial and image-driven.

idiom
stingymiserly

Examples

  • 一毛不拔，。
    Tā zhè ge rén yī máo bù bá, cóng lái bù kěn qǐng kè.
    He is such a stingy person—he never treats anyone to a meal.
  • 一毛不拔，。
    Dà jiā dōu shuō tā shì yī máo bù bá de rén, méi rén xiǎng hé tā jiāo péng you.
    Everyone says he is a miser, and nobody wants to be friends with him.
  • ，一毛不拔。
    Suī rán tā hěn fù yǒu, dàn duì qīn qi péng you què yī máo bù bá.
    Although he is very wealthy, he is still stingy with relatives and friends.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
主谓zhǔwèiSubject + predicate

A small sentence frozen into a word: something, and what it does or is.

一毛one hair
一yīone毛máohair
偏正Modifier + head
不拔not pulled
不bùnot拔bápull
偏正Modifier + head

一毛 is one hair and 不拔 is not pulled, so it describes someone who will not part with anything.

Characters in this word

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

一 is drawn as one horizontal stroke, marking the number one.

Open 一 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

毛 is drawn as a feather or hair, with its strokes tracing the shape of the feather or hair.

Open 毛 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The picture in 不 originally showed a flower’s calyx; the “no” sense came later from a related character, not from this picture.

Open 不 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
扌Written in full as手shǒuhand
Sound part声符shēngfú
犮
犮bá拔bá
Same sound today

In 拔, the left side 扌 is a hand and the right side 犮 gives the sound; the shape pictures a hand pulling.

Open 拔 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Idioms & Set PhrasesPersonality & Traits

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