yī lì lǎo shǔ shǐ huài le yī guō zhōu
Traditional: 一粒老鼠屎壞了一鍋粥
一粒老鼠屎坏了一锅粥 (yī lì lǎo shǔ shǐ huài le yī guō zhōu) is a Chinese word meaning “lit. one pellet of rat feces spoiled the whole pot of congee (idiom); fig. one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch”.
Meanings
- 1lit. one pellet of rat feces spoiled the whole pot of congee (idiom)
- 2fig. one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch
Characters in 一粒老鼠屎坏了一锅粥
一yī · one粒lì · grain; granule; pellet; particle老lǎo · prefix used before the surname of a person or a numeral indicating the order of birth of the children in a family or to indicate affection or familiarity鼠shǔ · (bound form) rat; mouse屎shǐ · feces; excrement; a stool坏huài · bad了le · (completed action marker)一yī · one锅guō · pot; pan; wok; cauldron粥yù · used in 葷粥|荤粥[Xun1 yu4]
Related words
了(completed action marker)了to finish了(of eyes) bright了unofficial variant of 瞭[liao4]一one一个a; an; one一起(in) the same place一样same一下(after a verb) a bit; a little (indicating brief duration, or softening the tone, or suggesting giving sth a try)一直straight (in a straight line)一切everything一点a bit; a little bit