画
蛇
添
足

Lit. draw legs on a snake (idiom) in Chinese: 画蛇添足 (huà shé tiān zú)

huà shé tiān zú

lit. draw legs on a snake (idiom)

HSK 3.0 Levels 7-9Traditional: 畫蛇添足1 example sentence

Definitions

  1. 1lit. draw legs on a snake (idiom); fig. to ruin the effect by adding sth superfluous
  2. 2to overdo it

Stroke order

Watch how to write 画蛇添足 stroke by stroke.

画
蛇
添
足

Zhuyin

This word’s pronunciation in Bopomofo.

Learn how to read Zhuyin

ㄏㄨㄚˋ

huà

ㄏ/ hㄨ/ uㄚ/ aˋ/ fourth tone

ㄕㄜˊ

shé

ㄕ/ shㄜ/ eˊ/ second tone

ㄊㄧㄢ

tiān

ㄊ/ tㄧ/ iㄢ/ an—/ first tone

ㄗㄨˊ

zú

ㄗ/ zㄨ/ uˊ/ second tone

Simplified & traditional

画蛇添足

Simplified

畫蛇添足

Traditional

Example sentences

See 画蛇添足 used in real sentences with pinyin and English translations.

  • 文章已经很好，再加这段就是画蛇添足。

    wén zhāng yǐ jīng hěn hǎo， zài jiā zhè duàn jiù shì huà shé tiān zú。

    The essay is already good; adding this paragraph is just overdoing it.

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Related words

画

huà

to draw

蛇

shé

snake

添

tiān

to add

足

zú

foot

不足

bù zú

insufficient

满足

mǎn zú

to satisfy

画儿

huà r

picture

画家

huà jiā

painter

图画

tú huà

drawing

足够

zú gòu

enough

足球

zú qiú

soccer ball

充足

chōng zú

adequate

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Levels 7-9 vocabulary list

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