點金成鐵 diǎn jīn chéng tiě

ruin fine work; turn good into bad

Word data

HSK Not in HSK
Frequency Unknown

Definitions

  1. 1. to transform gold into base metal (idiom); fig. to edit sb else's beautiful prose and ruin it

Characters

Character Meaning
點 diǎn
o'clock; to order (food in a restaurant); point
金 jīn HSK 4
gold; money; golden
成 chéng HSK 3
to become; to succeed; to complete
鐵 tiě
iron (metal); hard; strong