hào ly chi sai, thiên lý chi mậu

In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.

Also seen as: nhứt hào sai thiên lý

Meaning · English

A hair's-breadth off at the start, a thousand miles off at the end — small errors compound by the league.

Literally: a hair's difference, a thousand-mile error

Examples

Số liệu đầu vào lệch tí là hào ly chi sai thiên lý chi mậu.One digit off at input — a hair's error, a thousand-mile miss.

Editorial example (VI sweep batch 040, illustrative)

Sources & notes

Discovered via Tục ngữ, cổ ngữ, gia ngôn (Huỳnh Tịnh Của, 1897; public domain, via vi.wikisource); retrieved 2026-08-01. Source: source ↗ Attested in Tục ngữ, cổ ngữ, gia ngôn (Huỳnh Tịnh Của, 1897). Definition is an original editorial synthesis, not copied from the source.

Common questions

What does “hào ly chi sai, thiên lý chi mậu” mean?

A hair's-breadth off at the start, a thousand miles off at the end — small errors compound by the league. Literally: a hair's difference, a thousand-mile error

Is “hào ly chi sai, thiên lý chi mậu” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.