Definition
毫发 is a literary expression that literally means 'a hair' but is used figuratively to mean 'the slightest bit' or 'a hair's breadth'. It almost always appears in negative constructions such as 毫发无损 ('not harmed in the slightest') or 毫发不差 ('not differing by a hair'), emphasizing that something is completely unharmed or exactly the same. Note that 发 is pronounced fà here (the literary reading for 'hair'), not fā.
n.
the slightest bita hair's breadth (used in negative constructions)
Examples
- ,毫发。Jīngguò zhè cì shìgù, tā háo fà wú sǔn.After this accident, he was not harmed in the slightest.
- 毫发,。Liǎng fú huà háo fà bú chà, wánquán yíyàng.The two paintings are exactly the same, not differing by a hair.
- ,毫发。Tā cóng xuányá shàng diào xiàlai, jìngrán háo fà wèi shāng.He fell off the cliff but surprisingly wasn't hurt at all.
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