Effort & Endurance
積土成山
적토성산
jī tǔ chéng shān
Jeok-to-seong-san
積
쌓을 적
土
흙 토
成
이룰 성
山
메 산
Character by character
Meaning
Pile up earth and you make a mountain.
Origin
From Xunzi’s chapter on learning: pile earth into a mountain and wind and rain arise from it.
How it is used
Used to describe the power of a day’s study or a day’s saving.
Hanja積土成山
Simplified积土成山
Korean reading적토성산
Pinyinjī tǔ chéng shān
Frequently asked questions
Q. What does Jeok-to-seong-san mean?
積土成山 · Pile up earth and you make a mountain.
Q. Where does Jeok-to-seong-san come from?
From Xunzi’s chapter on learning: pile earth into a mountain and wind and rain arise from it.
Q. How is Jeok-to-seong-san used?
Used to describe the power of a day’s study or a day’s saving.
Idioms in the same group
愚公移山 U-gong-i-sanOld Man Yu moves the mountain — persistence accomplishes anything.磨斧作針 Ma-bu-jak-chimGrind an axe into a needle — dogged effort achieves even the impossible.螢雪之功 Hyeong-seol-ji-gongMerit earned reading by fireflies and snow-light — study achieved in hardship.切齒腐心 Jeol-chi-bu-simGrinding your teeth and letting your heart rot — nursing a grievance.臥薪嘗膽 Wa-sin-sang-damSleep on firewood and taste gall — endure any hardship to settle a score.百折不屈 Baek-jeol-bul-gulBroken a hundred times and still unbent.
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.