小洞不堵,大洞難補 xiǎo dòng bù dǔ , dà dòng nán bǔ

fix small problems early; act in time

Word data

HSK Not in HSK
Frequency Unknown

Definitions

  1. 1. If you don't plug the small hole, the big hole will be hard to repair (idiom); A stitch in time saves nine.

Characters

Character Meaning
small; young; tiny
cave; hole
not; no; (negative prefix)
to block up (a road, pipe etc); to stop up (a hole)
big; large; great
cave; hole
difficult; difficult (to...); difficulty
to make up for; to supplement; to repair