半途而废
- Literal
- halfway along the road, and quit
- Figurative
- To give up halfway, abandoning a task or effort before it's finished.
Where does 半途而废 come from?
It has a documented classical source: the 《礼记·中庸》 reads “君子遵道而行，半涂而废，吾弗能已矣” (“the noble person follows the Way, and to abandon it halfway is something I could not bring myself to do”), censuring one who walks half the road and then falters. The popular image often used to illustrate the idiom comes from the 《后汉书·列女传》: when Yue Yangzi's wife saw him come home out of longing, leaving his studies unfinished, she cut the cloth she was weaving on the loom in one stroke, to show him that work broken off halfway is ruined just like that cloth.
Source (出处): 《礼记·中庸》
How is 半途而废 used? Two examples
- 既然决定要学中文，就别半途而废。
Since you've decided to learn Chinese, don't give up halfway.
- 这个项目做了一半就半途而废，太可惜了。
It's a real shame this project was dropped halfway through.
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