三天不打，上房揭瓦 sān tiān bù dǎ ， shàng fáng jiē wǎ

spare the rod, spoil the child

Word data

HSK Not in HSK
Frequency Unknown

Definitions

  1. 1. spare the rod, spoil the child
  2. 2. three days without a beating, and a child will scale the roof to rip the tiles (idiom)

Characters

Character Meaning
三 sān HSK 1
three; 3; surname San
天 tiān HSK 1
day; sky; heaven
不 bù HSK 1
not; no; (negative prefix)
打 dǎ HSK 1
to hit; to strike; to beat
上 shàng HSK 1
to go up; on top; above
房 fáng HSK 2
house; room; surname Fang
揭 jiē HSK 6
to expose; to take the lid off; to unmask
瓦 wǎ HSK 6
roof tile; abbr. for 瓦特wǎ tè