百无一是 bǎi wú yī shì completely useless

Explanation

形容人做事毫无成就，完全失败。

Describes someone who achieves nothing in their actions and fails completely.

Origin Story

从前，有个秀才名叫王二，他自以为才高八斗，满腹经纶，于是四处求官。他先去参加县试，结果名落孙山；接着去参加府试，还是落选；后来又参加了乡试，依旧名落孙山；最后连殿试都没敢去参加。他把这些年参加科举考试的情况，向一位老秀才诉说一番，老秀才听后，长叹一声说：你呀，简直就是百无一是。王二不服气地说：我虽然屡试不中，但这并不等于我百无一是呀！老秀才摇摇头说：你看看你，这些年四处奔波，考试屡次失败，一事无成，你说你百无一是，算不算贴切？

cóng qián, yǒu gè xiù cái míng jiào wáng èr, tā zì yǐwéi cái gāo bā dǒu, mǎn fù jīng lún, yú shì sì chù qiú guān. tā xiān qù cān jiā xiàn shì, jié guǒ míng luò sūn shān; jiē zhe qù cān jiā fǔ shì, hái shì luò xuǎn; hòu lái yòu cān jiā le xiāng shì, yījiù míng luò sūn shān; zuì hòu lián diàn shì dōu gǎn qù cān jiā. tā bǎ zhèxiē nián cān jiā kē jǔ kǎo shì de qíng kuàng, xiàng yī wèi lǎo xiù cái sù shuō yī fān, lǎo xiù cái tīng hòu, cháng tàn yī shēng shuō: nǐ ya, jiǎn zhí jiù shì bǎi wú yī shì. wáng èr bù fú qì de shuō: wǒ suīrán lǚ shì bù zhōng, dàn zhè bìng bù děng yú wǒ bǎi wú yī shì ya! lǎo xiù cái yáo yáo tóu shuō: nǐ kàn kan nǐ, zhèxiē nián sì chù bēn bō, kǎo shì lǚ cì shī bài, yī shì wú chéng, nǐ shuō nǐ bǎi wú yī shì, suàn bù suàn tiē qiē?

Once upon a time, there was a scholar named Wang Er who considered himself extremely talented and wise, so he sought various official positions. He first participated in the county examination, but failed. Then he tried the prefectural examination and failed again, followed by the provincial examination, still failing. In the end, he didn't even dare to take the imperial examination. He recounted his years of examination failures to an old scholar. The old scholar sighed and said, "You are simply a complete failure." Wang Er disagreed, saying, "Even though I repeatedly failed the exams, this doesn't mean that I am a complete failure!" The old scholar shook his head, "Look at you, you've spent years running around, failing exams time and again and achieving nothing at all. Isn't it appropriate to say that you are completely useless?"

Usage

用于形容人做事完全失败，毫无建树。

yòng yú xiángróng rén zuò shì wánquán shībài, háo wú jiànshù

Used to describe someone who has completely failed in their endeavors and achieved nothing.

Examples

• 他做事百无一是，经常出错。

  ta zuò shì bǎi wú yī shì, jīng cháng chū cuò

  He does everything wrong, always making mistakes.

• 这个计划百无一是，根本行不通。

  zhège jìhuà bǎi wú yī shì, gēnběn xíng bù tōng

  This plan is completely useless, it won't work at all.

Related Idioms

• 一无是处

• 百无一用

Opposite Idioms

• 完美无缺

• 样样精通