📖 Meaning
To have a beginning but no end. It describes someone who starts something but fails to finish it, lacking follow-through and perseverance. The idiom criticizes inconsistency and incomplete efforts.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase appears in the Song dynasty Buddhist text 'Wudeng Huiyuan' (Compendium of the Five Lamps) compiled by monk Puji, where a monk asks what to do when something has a head but no tail. It is also cited in 'Zhuzi Yulei' (Conversations of Master Zhu) by the Neo-Confucian philosopher Zhu Xi, who remarks that a person who has a head but no tail cannot be loyal for long. These sources use the metaphor of a body missing its tail to illustrate the fault of starting endeavors without completing them.
💡 Example Usage
他做事总是有头无尾，没有一件能坚持到底。
He always starts things but never finishes them—nothing he does is seen through to the end.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 有头无尾
- Pinyin: yǒu tóu wú wěi
- Literal Translation: have, head, no, tail
- Category: Perseverance
- Characters: 4