CHENGYU
多此一举(duō cǐ yī jǔ)meaning, story and origin
- Register:
- formal
- Source:
- 清·李绿园《歧路灯》
MEANING
- Literal
- to lift one time too many
- Figurative meaning
- to take an unnecessary action; to do more than is needed
ORIGIN STORY
First recorded in the Qing-era novel Qiludeng. The phrase describes one more move than a situation calls for — an action that adds nothing but trouble.
NATURAL EQUIVALENT
“to carry coals to Newcastle”
EXAMPLES
打个电话说一声就行，不用跑一趟，真是多此一举。Dǎ ge diànhuà shuō yì shēng jiù xíng, bù yòng pǎo yí tàng, zhēn shì duō cǐ yī jǔ.HSK6
A phone call would do; coming all this way was completely unnecessary.
问题已经解决了，再开会就是多此一举。Wèntí yǐjīng jiějué le, zài kāihuì jiù shì duō cǐ yī jǔ.HSK6
The problem is already solved; another meeting would be a waste.
COMMON MISTAKE
Watch out: It criticizes redundancy, not failure — do not use it for effort that simply did not work.
CHARACTER BREAKDOWN
Tap a character to explore it
TRUST & SOURCES
- Reviewed by
- AI-assisted editorial review
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-14
- CC-CEDICT 2026-01-01