星星之火，可以燎原

Chinese
tiny spot; speck 's; him/her/it; this
 
fire; angry; fierce
fire; angry; fierce; fiery; thriving
 
can; may; can
can; may; can; to be able to
 to set the prairie ablaze
trad. (星星之火，可以燎原) 星星 之 火 ， 可以 燎原
simp. #(星星之火，可以燎原) 星星 之 火 ， 可以 燎原
Literally: “a single spark can start a huge blaze”.

Etymology

From the Book of Documents:

若火之燎于原，不可嚮邇，其猶可撲滅？ [Classical Chinese, trad.]
若火之燎于原，不可向迩，其犹可扑灭？ [Classical Chinese, simp.]
From: The Book of Documents, circa 4th – 3rd century BCE
Ruò huǒ zhī liáo yú yuán, bùkě xiàng'ěr, qí yóu kě pūmiè? [Pinyin]
When fire is burning the grassland, one (already) cannot stay near it, then how can one put it out?

Later popularized through a letter from Mao Zedong to Lin Biao (see 星星之火，可以燎原 on the Chinese Wikipedia.Wikipedia zh).

Pronunciation

  • Mandarin
    (Pinyin): xīngxīng zhī huǒ, kěyǐ liáoyuán
    (Zhuyin): ㄒㄧㄥ ㄒㄧㄥ ㄓ ㄏㄨㄛˇ , ㄎㄜˇ ㄧˇ ㄌㄧㄠˊ ㄩㄢˊ
  • Cantonese (Jyutping): sing1 sing1 zi1 fo2, ho2 ji5 liu4 jyun4
  • Mandarin
    • (Standard Chinese)+
      • Hanyu Pinyin: xīngxīng zhī huǒ, kěyǐ liáoyuán [Phonetic: xīngxīngzhīhuǒ,kéyǐliáoyuán]
      • Zhuyin: ㄒㄧㄥ ㄒㄧㄥ ㄓ ㄏㄨㄛˇ , ㄎㄜˇ ㄧˇ ㄌㄧㄠˊ ㄩㄢˊ
      • Tongyong Pinyin: singsing jhih huǒ, kěyǐ liáoyuán
      • Wade–Giles: hsing1-hsing1 chih1 huo3, kʻo3-i3 liao2-yüan2
      • Yale: syīng-syīng jr̄ hwǒ-, kě-yǐ lyáu-ywán
      • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: shingshing jy huoo, keeyii liauyuan
      • Palladius: синсин чжи хо, кэи ляоюань (sinsin čži xo, kɛi ljaojuanʹ)
      • Sinological IPA (key): /ɕiŋ⁵⁵ ɕiŋ⁵⁵ ʈ͡ʂʐ̩⁵⁵ xu̯ɔ²¹⁴⁻³⁵ kʰɤ²¹⁴⁻³⁵ i²¹⁴⁻²¹ li̯ɑʊ̯³⁵ ɥɛn³⁵/
  • Cantonese

Proverb

星星之火，可以燎原

  1. an insignificant cause can have a massive effect

See also
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