📖 Meaning
This idiom conveys that with unwavering perseverance and diligent effort, even the most seemingly impossible tasks can eventually be accomplished. It emphasizes that sustained hard work can transform something rough and crude into something refined and useful.
📜 Origin Story
The story is traditionally associated with Li Bai, the renowned poet of the Tang Dynasty. As a child, Li Bai was playful and disliked studying. One day, while wandering near a stream at Mount Xiang'er, he encountered an elderly woman tirelessly grinding an iron pestle on a whetstone. When Li Bai asked what she was doing, she calmly replied that she intended to grind the iron rod into a sewing needle. Astonished by her determination, Li Bai realized that with enough persistence, any goal could be achieved, and he thereafter devoted himself to his studies.
💡 Example Usage
只要坚持努力，磨杵作针终会成功。
As long as you persist and work hard, grinding a pestle into a needle will eventually lead to success.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 磨杵作针
- Pinyin: mó chǔ zuò zhēn
- Literal Translation: grind, pestle, make, needle
- Category: Perseverance
- Characters: 4