蚁穴 (yǐ xué) — ant nest; small flaw or oversight that can lead to catastrophe (metaphorical)
Definition
Literally 'ant nest', but in modern usage it almost always means a tiny flaw that causes a huge failure. Comes from the proverb 千里之堤，溃于蚁穴.
noun
ant nestsmall flaw or oversight that can lead to catastrophe (metaphorical)
Measure word · 个
Examples
- 蚁穴。Huā yuán lǐ yǒu yí gè hěn dà de yǐ xué.There is a very big ant nest in the garden.
- ，蚁穴，。Qiān lǐ zhī dī, kuì yú yǐ xué, wǒ men bù néng hū shì rèn hé xì jié.A thousand-li dike collapses due to an ant nest — we cannot overlook any detail.
- 蚁穴。Zhè ge chéng xù de yí gè xiǎo yǐ xué dǎo zhì le zhěng gè xì tǒng tān huàn.A small flaw in this program caused the entire system to crash.
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