杯水车薪 (杯水車薪)
bēi shuǐ chē xīn
Pinyin

Definition

杯水车薪 (杯水車薪)
 - 
bēi shuǐ chē xīn
  1. lit. a cup of water on a burning cart of firewood (idiom); fig. an utterly inadequate measure

Related Words (20)

bēi
  1. 1 cup
  2. 2 trophy cup
  3. 3 classifier for certain containers of liquids: glass, cup
Shuǐ
  1. 1 surname Shui
shuǐ píng
  1. 1 level (of achievement etc)
  2. 2 standard
  3. 3 horizontal
shuǐ guǒ
  1. 1 fruit
  2. 2 classifier: 个 gè
Shuǐ píng zuò
  1. 1 Aquarius (constellation and sign of the zodiac)

Idioms (20)

一清如水
yī qīng rú shuǐ
  1. 1 lit. as clear as water (idiom)
  2. 2 fig. (of officials etc) honest and incorruptible
一碗水端平
yī wǎn shuǐ duān píng
  1. 1 lit. to hold a bowl of water level (idiom)
  2. 2 fig. to be impartial
一点水一个泡
yī diǎn shuǐ yī gè pào
  1. 1 honest and trustworthy (idiom)
三个和尚没水喝
sān gè hé shang méi shuǐ hē
  1. 1 lit. three monks have no water to drink (idiom)
  2. 2 fig. everybody's business is nobody's business
  3. 3 (If there is one monk, he will fetch water for himself. If there are two, they will fetch water together. But if there are three or more, none will take it upon himself to fetch water.)
不显山不露水
bù xiǎn shān bù lù shuǐ
  1. 1 lit. to not show the mountain and to not reveal the water (idiom); fig. to hide the key facts

Sample Sentences

那都只是杯水车薪,而且还有附加条件。总之事实是世界各国的贫富差距越来越悬殊!
nà dōu zhǐshì bēishuǐchēxīn ,érqiě hái yǒu fùjiātiáojiàn 。zǒngzhī shìshí shì shìjiègèguó de pínfù chājù yuèláiyuè xuán shū !
That's just a drop in the bucket, and there are strings attached. In the end, the truth is that the gap between rich and poor in every country in the world is getting wider all the time!