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无微不至 (wú wēi-bú zhì) — meticulous; thorough in every detail

Definition

A chengyu describing care or service so thorough it misses nothing — usually about how someone looks after another person, stronger than 仔细 and 精心. Distinguish from 一丝不苟 (about the doer's own attitude) and 百般 (about the many methods tried).

phrase
meticulousthorough in every detail

Examples

  • 无微不至，。
    Lǎo shī duì wǒ men de guān xīn wú wēi-bú zhì, jiù xiàng fù mǔ yí yàng.
    The teacher's care for us is meticulous, just like our parents.
  • 无微不至，。
    Tā zuò shì zǒng shì wú wēi-bú zhì, cóng bù mǎ hu.
    He always does things meticulously, never carelessly.
  • 无微不至，。
    Zhè tái jī qì de shè jì wú wēi-bú zhì, měi gè xì jié dōu kǎo lǜ dào le.
    The design of this machine is meticulous; every detail has been considered.

Origin

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 無; 无 is its simplified writing.

For the simplified 无, the story is about 無. 無 drew a person dancing with ox tails held in both hands to pray for rain, then was borrowed for 'have no', so the picture does not explain that meaning.

Open 无 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

The old form showed 𡵂 (a variant of 美, a person with long hair) and 攵 (a hand with a tool) splitting or combing hairs, hence minute; 微 later added 彳 to emphasize action.

Open 微 →

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 →

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

至 is drawn as an arrow stuck into the ground.

Open 至 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9HSK 2.0 Level 6Idioms & Set Phrases

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