笨鸟先飞 (笨鳥先飛)
bèn niǎo xiān fēi
Pinyin

Definition

笨鸟先飞 (笨鳥先飛)
 - 
bèn niǎo xiān fēi
  1. lit. the clumsy bird flies early (idiom); fig. to work hard to compensate for one's limited abilities

Character Decomposition

Related Words (20)

先
xiān
  1. 1 early
  2. 2 prior
  3. 3 former
  4. 4 in advance
  5. 5 first
先生
Xiān sheng
  1. 1 Mister (Mr.)
事先
shì xiān
  1. 1 in advance
  2. 2 before the event
  3. 3 beforehand
  4. 4 prior
优先
yōu xiān
  1. 1 to have priority
  2. 2 to take precedence
先后
xiān hòu
  1. 1 early or late
  2. 2 priority
  3. 3 in succession
  4. 4 one after another

Idioms (19)

先下手为强
xiān xià shǒu wéi qiáng
  1. 1 strike first and gain the upper hand (idiom, martial arts term); Making the first move is an advantage.
先斩后奏
xiān zhǎn hòu zòu
  1. 1 first decapitate then present your trophy (idiom); act first, report later
先发制人
xiān fā zhì rén
  1. 1 to gain the initiative by striking first (idiom); to preempt
  2. 2 to anticipate
  3. 3 preemptive
先睹为快
xiān dǔ wéi kuài
  1. 1 joy of first experience (idiom)
  2. 2 the pleasure of reading sth for the first time
先礼后兵
xiān lǐ hòu bīng
  1. 1 peaceful measures before using force (idiom); diplomacy before violence
  2. 2 jaw-jaw is better than war-war

Sample Sentences

笨鸟先飞早入林
bènniǎoxiānfēizǎorùlín
Diligence can make up for deficiency.
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我能力不如别人，只好笨鸟先飞，才能早入林。
wǒ nénglì bùrú biéren ，zhǐhǎo bènniǎoxiānfēi ，cáinéng zǎo rù lín 。
I am inferior to others. I have to practice more so I can succeed.
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我本来学习非常不好，但是我爸妈常告诉我“笨鸟先飞早入林”。所以我上课的时候就像只出头鸟一样，一直举手回答问题。
wǒ běnlái xuéxí fēicháng bùhǎo ，dànshì wǒ bàmā cháng gàosu wǒ “bènniǎoxiānfēizǎorùlín ”。suǒyǐ wǒ shàngkè de shíhou jiù xiàng zhī chūtóuniǎo yīyàng ，yīzhí jǔshǒu huídá wèntí 。
I didn’t do so well in my studies. But my parents always told me that I could achieve success if I work harder. So I was like a bird sticking its head out when I was in class. I kept raising my hand answering the teacher's questions.
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