吃力不讨好 (吃力不討好)
chī lì bù tǎo hǎo
Pinyin

Definition

吃力不讨好 (吃力不討好)
 - 
chī lì bù tǎo hǎo
  1. arduous and thankless task (idiom); strenuous and unrewarding

Related Words (20)

  1. 1 (negative prefix)
  2. 2 not
  3. 3 no
chī
  1. 1 to eat
  2. 2 to consume
  3. 3 to eat at (a cafeteria etc)
  4. 4 to eradicate
  5. 5 to destroy
  6. 6 to absorb
  7. 7 to suffer
  8. 8 to stammer (Taiwan pr. for this sense is [jí])
hǎo
  1. 1 good
  2. 2 well
  3. 3 proper
  4. 4 good to
  5. 5 easy to
  6. 6 very
  7. 7 so
  8. 8 (suffix indicating completion or readiness)
  9. 9 (of two people) close
  10. 10 on intimate terms
  11. 11 (after a personal pronoun) hello
bù jiǔ
  1. 1 not long (after)
  2. 2 before too long
  3. 3 soon
  4. 4 soon after
bù dàn
  1. 1 not only (... but also...)

Idioms (20)

一不做,二不休
yī bù zuò , èr bù xiū
  1. 1 don't do it, or don't rest (idiom); either give up, or go through to the end
  2. 2 Since we started, we must carry it through whatever happens.
  3. 3 in for a penny, in for a pound
一问三不知
yī wèn sān bù zhī
  1. 1 lit. to reply "don't know" whatever the question (idiom)
  2. 2 fig. absolutely no idea of what's going on
  3. 3 complete ignorance
一尘不染
yī chén bù rǎn
  1. 1 untainted by even a speck of dust (idiom); selfless and incorruptible
  2. 2 spotless
一字不提
yī zì bù tí
  1. 1 to not mention a single word (about sth) (idiom)
一山不容二虎
yī shān bù róng èr hǔ
  1. 1 lit. the mountain can't have two tigers (idiom)
  2. 2 fig. this town ain't big enough for the two of us
  3. 3 (of two rivals) to be fiercely competitive

Sample Sentences

先不说你们俩。后妈不好当,你对她严厉了,她会说你虐待她,对她宽松了,又会说你不管她。反正净说你坏话。当后妈就是吃力不讨好。
xiān bù shuō nǐmen liǎ 。hòumā bù hǎo dāng ,nǐ duì tā yánlì le ,tā huì shuō nǐ nüèdài tā ,duì tā kuānsōng le ,yòu huì shuō nǐ bù guǎn tā 。fǎnzhèng jìng shuō nǐ huàihuà 。dāng hòumā jiùshì chīlì bù tǎohǎo 。
Don't worry about the two of you. There's nothing good about being a stepmother. If you're strict with her, she'll say you're abusing her. If you're easy on her, she'll say you don't care about her. Whatever you do, she'll speak poorly of you. Being a stepmother is a tireless job that gets you no respect.
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