諺語 · a single proverb
積少成多
Simplified: 积少成多
What does 積少成多 (jī shǎo chéng duō) mean?
積少成多 (jī shǎo chéng duō) is a four-character classical idiom (chéngyǔ 成語). Word for word it reads "accumulate few, become many." In use it means: Many small things gathered steadily become much; abundance is built grain by grain. You reach for it when you want that idea in one breath, and the Earth note it carries is why we hand it to those born in the Year of the Ox.
Literally: "accumulate few, become many."
The reading
No one gathers a harvest in a day. Abundance is patient arithmetic, a little added and a little kept, until the small becomes a weight you can lean on.
The story
The phrase is recorded in the Book of Han: accumulate the few and they become the many. It is patient arithmetic raised to a principle, the recognition that abundance is built grain by grain and no harvest is gathered in a day.
Set up one small thing to add and keep every day, a saved coin, a written line, a rep, and stop despising it for being small. Trust the arithmetic, and let the little accumulate until it becomes a weight you can lean on.
What kind of proverb it is
Source Book of Han 漢書
Sits beside
Keep reading
Return to the Proverb Pond to draw another of the eighty-seven, or hear one read aloud. Read the rest of its chapter in Wealth, Work & Diligence, or follow the years these lines belong to: Year of the Ox, Year of the Rat, and Year of the Tiger.
Questions
Is 積少成多 a real Chinese proverb?
Yes. 積少成多 (jī shǎo chéng duō) is a four-character classical idiom (chéngyǔ 成語), and it comes from Book of Han 漢書. It is living Chinese heritage, given here with per-character pinyin and its source so you can trust the line, not a phrase invented in English.
How do you pronounce 積少成多?
In Mandarin it is jī shǎo chéng duō. Read the pinyin above each character to follow the tones, or press the speaker beside the calligraphy to hear your browser read 積少成多 aloud in Mandarin.