贫无立锥之地 pín wú lì zhuī zhī dì

extremely poor; penniless

Word data

HSK Not in HSK
Frequency Unknown

Definitions

  1. 1. not even enough land to stand an awl (idiom); absolutely destitute

Characters

Character Meaning
贫 pín HSK 6
poor; deficient; inadequate
无 wú HSK 4
not; no; not to have
立 lì HSK 5
to stand; to establish; to set up
锥 zhuī
awl; cone; to bore
之 zhī HSK 4
(possessive particle, literary equivalent of 的de); it
地 dì HSK 3
ground; land; adverb marker -ly