失之毫厘，謬以千里

a tiny lapse can lead to a huge mistake (idiom); a minor discrepancy leading to enormous losses

to lose / to miss / to fail

(possessive particle, literary equivalent of 的[de5]) / him / her / it

hair / drawing brush / (in the) least / one thousandth / currency unit, 0.1 yuan

variant of 釐|厘[li2]

Li (c. 2000 BC), sixth of the legendary Flame Emperors 炎帝[Yan2 di4] descended from Shennong 神農|神农[Shen2 nong2] Farmer God, also known as Ai 哀[Ai1]

one hundredth / centi-

to deceive / to confuse / to cheat / absurd / erroneous

old variant of 以[yi3]

old variant of 以[yi3]

abbr. for Israel 以色列[Yi3 se4 lie4]

to use / by means of / according to / in order to / because of / at (a certain date or place)

thousand

see 鞦韆|秋千[qiu1 qian1]

a thousand miles / a thousand li (i.e. 500 kilometers) / a long distance

variant of 裡|里[li3]

lining / interior / inside / internal / also written 裏|里[li3]

li, ancient measure of length, approx. 500 m / neighborhood / ancient administrative unit of 25 families / (Tw) borough, administrative unit between the township 鎮|镇[zhen4] and neighborhood 鄰|邻[lin2] levels