Conduct & Attitude
積小成大
적소성대
jī xiǎo chéng dà
Jeok-so-seong-dae
積
쌓을 적
小
작을 소
成
이룰 성
大
클 대
Character by character
Meaning
Accumulate the small and you build the large.
Origin
From the same family of sayings as Xunzi’s "pile earth and you make a mountain".
How it is used
Applied to savings, habits — anything built by small amounts over long stretches.
Hanja積小成大
Simplified积小成大
Korean reading적소성대
Pinyinjī xiǎo chéng dà
Frequently asked questions
Q. What does Jeok-so-seong-dae mean?
積小成大 · Accumulate the small and you build the large.
Q. Where does Jeok-so-seong-dae come from?
From the same family of sayings as Xunzi’s "pile earth and you make a mountain".
Q. How is Jeok-so-seong-dae used?
Applied to savings, habits — anything built by small amounts over long stretches.
Idioms in the same group
有備無患 Yu-bi-mu-hwanIf you prepare in advance, there is nothing to worry about.易地思之 Yeok-ji-sa-jiThink about it after swapping places with the other person.初志一貫 Cho-ji-il-gwanCarry the resolve you started with all the way through, unchanged.名不虛傳 Myeong-bul-heo-jeonThe reputation was not passed on in vain — it lives up to the name.靑出於藍 Cheong-chul-eo-ramThe blue drawn from the indigo plant is bluer than the plant — the student surpasses the teacher.大器晩成 Dae-gi-man-seongA great vessel takes long to finish — those destined for greatness succeed late.
The idioms used in Korea mix phrases from the Chinese classics with ones coined in Korea. Where an expression is not used in China, the entry says so.