📖 Meaning
Describes the steady, long-term buildup of something over days and months. It refers to the gradual accumulation of wealth, knowledge, or small faults through persistent, incremental effort over time. The idiom emphasizes that major outcomes often result from small amounts added up continuously, rather than from any single act.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom comes from Sima Guang's Zizhi Tongjian (资治通鉴, Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance), specifically the entry for the fifth year of the Kaicheng reign of Emperor Wenzong of the Tang dynasty (840 AD). In that passage, a memorial criticizes the previous emperor for treating his high ministers with excessive formality, tolerating their minor faults silently and never admonishing them openly. Because these small faults were allowed to go unchecked, they accumulated day by day and month by month, eventually leading to disaster and the ruin of the state. The passage thus warns that even tiny failings, if left uncorrected and allowed to pile up over time, can grow into catastrophic consequences.
💡 Example Usage
学习英语贵在日累月积，每天坚持背诵几个单词。
Learning English thrives on day-by-day and month-by-month accumulation—insist on memorizing a few new words every single day.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 日累月积
- Pinyin: rì lèi yuè jī
- Literal Translation: day, accumulate, month, accumulate
- Category: Perseverance
- Characters: 4