CHENGYU
水滴石穿(shuǐ dī shí chuān)meaning, story and origin
- Register:
- literary, encouraging
- Source:
- 《汉书·枚乘传》
MEANING
- Literal
- dripping water pierces stone
- Figurative meaning
- small persistent efforts achieve great results
ORIGIN STORY
From the Han dynasty writer Mei Cheng: water is not a drill and rope is not a saw, yet with persistence dripping water bores through stone — so steady effort conquers the hardest things.
NATURAL EQUIVALENT
“constant dripping wears away the stone”
EXAMPLES
每天背十个单词，水滴石穿，一年就是三千多。Měitiān bèi shí ge dāncí, shuǐ dī shí chuān, yī nián jiù shì sānqiān duō.HSK6
Ten words a day — dripping water pierces stone; that is over three thousand a year.
水滴石穿，坚持练习一定会有进步。Shuǐ dī shí chuān, jiānchí liànxí yídìng huì yǒu jìnbù.HSK6
Water drips through stone; keep practicing and you will improve.
COMMON MISTAKE
Watch out: It celebrates slow, steady effort — not sudden force.
CHARACTER BREAKDOWN
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TRUST & SOURCES
- Reviewed by
- AI-assisted editorial review
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-15
- CC-CEDICT 2026-01-01