CHENGYU
九牛一毛(jiǔ niú yī máo)meaning, story and origin
- Register:
- formal
- Source:
- 汉·司马迁《报任少卿书》
MEANING
- Literal
- one hair from nine oxen
- Figurative meaning
- a drop in the ocean; utterly insignificant
ORIGIN STORY
In his letter to Ren An, Sima Qian wrote: "If I were executed, it would be like one hair lost from nine oxen — no more missed than a hair fallen from an ox." The image measures the tiny against the vast.
NATURAL EQUIVALENT
“a drop in the bucket”
EXAMPLES
这点钱对富豪来说是九牛一毛。Zhè diǎn qián duì fùháo lái shuō shì jiǔ niú yī máo.HSK6
To the tycoon, this money is one hair from nine oxen.
和整个工程相比，这点失误只是九牛一毛。Hé zhěng gè gōngchéng xiāngbǐ, zhè diǎn shīwù zhǐ shì jiǔ niú yī máo.HSK6
Against the whole project, this error is a single ox hair — nothing.
COMMON MISTAKE
Watch out: It means "tiny relative to something huge" — not "precious" or "rare".
CHARACTER BREAKDOWN
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TRUST & SOURCES
- Reviewed by
- AI-assisted editorial review
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-15
- CC-CEDICT 2026-01-01