画蛇添足 huàshétiānzú▶ Superfluo

Stroke order

画蛇添足 is written in 37 strokes across 4 characters.

• 画 — 8 strokes
• 蛇 — 11 strokes
• 添 — 11 strokes
• 足 — 7 strokes

Senses

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

Related words

• 充足adecuado
• 十足100 por ciento
• 增添Añadir
• 漫画Dibujos animados, caricatura
• 立足Basado en
• 足以Suficiente

画蛇添足 is pronounced huàshétiānzú and means “Superfluo”. HSK 6 places it in the Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi, the standardised measure of Chinese proficiency. There is a real difference between having seen 画蛇添足 and being able to use it, and cramming a list flatters the first while doing little for the second. LexiTrail shows you the word again at the point your recall of it is about to lapse.