HSK 6 · Ideas

拔苗助长 bámiáozhùzhǎng “to spoil things through haste (lit. pull shoots to help growth)” in Chinese

Traditional 拔苗助長

What 拔苗助长 means

  1. to spoil things through haste (lit. pull shoots to help growth)
  2. to spoil things through excessive enthusiasm (idiom)

How to say 拔苗助长

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale拔bá2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale苗miáo2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale助zhù4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale长zhǎng3rd tone, dipping

拔苗助长 in a sentence

  1. 学习要一步一步来，不能拔苗助长。

    Xuéxí yào yí bù yí bù lái, bùnéng bámiáozhùzhǎng.

    Learning has to go step by step; rushing it only spoils things.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 让三岁的孩子学太多东西，就是拔苗助长。

    Ràng sān suì de háizi xué tài duō dōngxi, jiùshì bámiáozhùzhǎng.

    Making a three-year-old learn too much does more harm than good.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 拔苗助长 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 拔 (bá) with each of its parts in a different colour
拔báto pull up
  • 扌hand form of 手 · shǒuMeaning part
  • 犮to pull up · báSound part

扌 hints at the meaning (hand); 犮 (bá) hints at the sound. Compare it with bá.

The character 苗 (miáo) with each of its parts in a different colour
苗miáoyoung plant; seedling
  • 艹grass form of 艸 · cǎo
  • 田field · tián
The character 助 (zhù) with each of its parts in a different colour
助zhùto help
  • 且moreover · qiěSound part
  • 力strength · lìMeaning part

力 hints at the meaning (strength); 且 (qiě) hints at the sound. Compare it with zhù.

The character 长 (cháng) drawn as one shape
长zhǎngchief

长 is a single shape of 4 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

Memory aidSimplified from 長, drawn from a person with long hair: long (cháng), and to grow (zhǎng).

How to write 拔苗助长

拔 8 strokes · 苗 8 strokes · 助 7 strokes · 长 4 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

拔苗助长 (bámiáozhùzhǎng) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 拔苗助长 (bámiáozhùzhǎng). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 拔苗助长

Words with 拔

海拔hǎibá · height above sea level选拔xuǎnbá · to select (the best)挺拔tǐngbá · tall and straight提拔tíbá · to promote (to a higher post)

Words with 苗

苗条miáotiao · (of a woman) slim

Words with 助

帮助bāngzhù · to help辅助fǔzhù · to assist借助jièzhù · to rely on协助xiézhù · to assist助理zhùlǐ · assistant助手zhùshǒu · assistant赞助zànzhù · to sponsor资助zīzhù · to fund

Words with 长

长cháng · long校长xiàozhǎng · principal of school长城Chángchéng · the Great Wall长江Cháng Jiāng · Yangtze River长辈zhǎngbèi · elder成长chéngzhǎng · to grow up延长yáncháng · to prolong长途chángtú · long distance生长shēngzhǎng · to grow漫长màncháng · very long

More words: Ideas & Concepts

主题zhǔtí · theme组zǔ · group案例ànlì · case奥秘àomì · mystery榜样bǎngyàng · role model半途而废bàntú'érfèi · to give up halfway饱经沧桑bǎojīngcāngsāng · to have lived through many ups and downs本能běnnéng · instinct

FAQs

拔苗助长 (bámiáozhùzhǎng) means “to spoil things through haste (lit. pull shoots to help growth)” or “to spoil things through excessive enthusiasm (idiom)”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it bámiáozhùzhǎng: bá with a 2nd tone, then miáo with a 2nd tone, then zhù with a 4th tone, then zhǎng with a 3rd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 拔苗助长 is written 拔苗助長. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type bamiaozhuzhang with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 拔苗助长 from the suggestions. Typing bamiaozhuzhang into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
拔苗助长 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences written by WillyChina. Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.