📖 Meaning
The zhu was an ancient Chinese unit of weight so small that one hundred grains of millet weighed one zhu. The idiom describes accumulating wealth, knowledge, or resources little by little, grain by grain. It also conveys that great achievements are built through patient, incremental effort over time.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase comes from the Song dynasty scholar Zhao Delin's work 'Houqing Lu' (Records of the Marquis of Qing), Volume Four. The original passage describes a poor girl spinning silk thread by thread, accumulating it zhu by zhu and inch by inch. The text evokes the image of clouds forming and thunder rising wherever her steps fell, emphasizing how steady perseverance produces dramatic results.
💡 Example Usage
这部著作是他铢积寸累二十年才完成的。
This work was completed only after twenty years of accumulating it bit by bit.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 铢积寸累
- Pinyin: zhū jī cùn lěi
- Literal Translation: zhu accumulate, inch gather
- Category: Perseverance
- Characters: 4