EnglishEnglish▼
得不偿失 be not worth the candle; get more kicks than halfpence
- Traditional
- 得不償失
Stroke order
得不偿失 is written in 31 strokes across 4 characters.

- 得 — 11 strokes
- 不 — 4 strokes
- 偿 — 11 strokes
- 失 — 5 strokes
Characters in 得不偿失
- 得 dé — to obtain; to get; to gain
- 不 bù — no; not so; (bound form) not; un-
- 偿 cháng — to repay; to compensate for; to recompense
- 失 shī — to lose; to miss; to fail
Character meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Related words
得不偿失 is pronounced débùchángshī and means “be not worth the candle; get more kicks than halfpence”.