行百里者半九十

Chinese

to go; to do; capable
to go; to do; capable; all right; competent; OK; to travel; temporary; to walk; will do; behaviour; conduct; a row; profession; professional
 
 a hundred li ‑ist, ‑er (person); person (who does something)
half; semi-; incomplete
half; semi-; incomplete; (after a number) and a half
 
 ninety; 90
simp. and trad.
(行百里者半九十) 		行 百里 者 半 九十

Etymology

From Zhanguoce:

《詩》云：『行百里者半於九十』，此言末路之難也。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
《诗》云：『行百里者半于九十』，此言末路之难也。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]
From: Zhanguo Ce, circa 5th – 3rd centuries BCE
“shī” yún: ‘Xíngbǎilǐzhěbànyújiǔshí’, cǐ yán mòlù zhī nán yě. [Pinyin]
Shijing said, "In a hundred-li journey, the first ninety li is merely half of it." This describes the difficulty towards the end of the journey.

Pronunciation

  • Mandarin
    (Pinyin): xíng bǎilǐ zhě bàn jiǔshí
    (Zhuyin): ㄒㄧㄥˊ ㄅㄞˇ ㄌㄧˇ ㄓㄜˇ ㄅㄢˋ ㄐㄧㄡˇ ㄕˊ
  • Cantonese (Jyutping): hang4 baak3 lei5 ze2 bun3 gau2 sap6

Proverb

行百里者半九十

  1. Things become more difficult when we approach closer to success

Synonyms

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