一
事
无
成

To have achieved nothing in Chinese: 一事无成 (yī shì wú chéng)

yī shì wú chéng

to have achieved nothing

HSK 3.0 Levels 7-9Traditional: 一事無成1 example sentence

Definitions

  1. 1to have achieved nothing
  2. 2to be a total failure
  3. 3to get nowhere

Stroke order

Watch how to write 一事无成 stroke by stroke.

一
事
无
成

Zhuyin

This word’s pronunciation in Bopomofo.

Learn how to read Zhuyin

ㄧ

yī

ㄧ/ i—/ first tone

ㄕˋ

shì

ㄕ/ shˋ/ fourth tone

ㄨˊ

wú

ㄨ/ uˊ/ second tone

ㄔㄥˊ

chéng

ㄔ/ chㄥ/ engˊ/ second tone

Simplified & traditional

一事无成

Simplified

一事無成

Traditional

Example sentences

See 一事无成 used in real sentences with pinyin and English translations.

  • 他忙了一辈子，却一事无成。

    tā máng le yí bèi zi， què yí shì wú chéng。

    He was busy his whole life, yet achieved nothing.

Spotted a mistake?

Related words

一

yī

one

无

wú

not to have

事

shì

matter

成

chéng

to succeed

第一

dì yī

first

事情

shì qing

affair

一起

yī qǐ

in the same place

成绩

chéng jì

achievement

故事

gù shì

old practice

同事

tóng shì

colleague

完成

wán chéng

to complete

一般

yī bān

same

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Levels 7-9 vocabulary list

Learn 一事无成 with spaced repetition

Add 一事无成 (yī shì wú chéng) to your review queue and the FSRS algorithm will schedule it exactly when you're about to forget — then meet it again in a short AI-generated story written at your level.

Start learning free

No credit card required · Free tier included