功亏一篑

功

go̅ng

亏

虧

kui̅

一

yi̅

篑

簣

kuì

lit. to ruin the enterprise for the sake of one basketful / to fail through lack of a final effort / to spoil the ship for a ha'penny worth of tar (idiom)

Characters and words in 功亏一篑

功

go̅ng = gu + (e)ng1

meritorious deed or service / achievement / result / service / accomplishment / work (physics)

Add a new mnemonic for 功 = 力 + 工

功 = 力 + 工 : Gitta Giraffe (gu) practices her Kung Fu skills (功) in front of the engine ((e)ng1) with a sparring robot made out of steel beams (工). The robot is programmed to fight Kung Fu (功), but Gitta Giraffe's Kung Fu is better: she hits the robots power button (力) and turns it off.

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亏

虧

kui̅ = ku + ei1

deficiency / deficit / luckily / it's lucky that... / (often ironically) fancy that...

Add a new mnemonic for 亏 = 一 + 丂

Add a new mnemonic for 亏 = 二 + ㇉

亏 = 二 + ㇉ : Mnemonic symbol: a lucky leprechaun. The leprechaun (亏) wants to propose to Karl Koala (ku) and uses the romantic moment in front of the Eiffel Tower (ei1). Unfortunately he has no ring, so he uses a capacitor (二) of which he bent the legs to build a ring. He's quite lucky (亏), because right after he gives the ring to Karl, a lightning bolt (㇉) strikes and hits poor Karl Koala. Had the leprechaun kept the ring, the lightning bolt would have hit him instead.

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一

yi̅ = y + Ø1

one / single / a (article) / as soon as / entire; whole; all; throughout / "one" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 1) / also pr. [yao1] for greater clarity when spelling out numbers digit by digit

Add a new mnemonic for 一 =

Maud Younger (y) forgot her keys to the space station (Ø1), all she brought outside was her flute (一). She has no choice but to crash the door with the giant flute.

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