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yīn 因 xiǎo 小 shī 失 dà 大

因小失大 yīn xiǎo shī dà

to lose big for the sake of something small; penny wise, pound foolish

Literally: because small lose big

Intermediate 🦉 Wisdom & judgement
🃏 Practise intermediate chengyu

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Origin

From the Lü shi chunqiu, which warns against harming the great for the sake of the small.

How to use it

Predicate; negative, cautionary. 别因小失大.

Example sentences

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  1. 为了省几块钱买了便宜货，结果坏了要花更多钱修，真是因小失大。
    Wèile shěng jǐ kuài qián mǎi le piányi huò, jiéguǒ huài le yào huā gèng duō qián xiū, zhēn shì yīn xiǎo shī dà.
    To save a few yuan he bought cheap goods, then had to pay more to repair them: penny wise, pound foolish.
    in order to save several yuan money buy (particle) cheap goods, result break (particle) need spend more much money repair, really is because small lose big
  2. 跟客户吵架是因小失大，以后他们不会再来了。
    Gēn kèhù chǎojià shì yīn xiǎo shī dà, yǐhòu tāmen bù huì zài lái le.
    Quarrelling with a customer is losing big over something small; they will never come back.
    with customer quarrel is because small lose big, afterwards they not will again come (particle)

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