八字还没一撇儿 in English ba1 zi4 hai2 mei2 yi1 pie3 r5 Meaning

Meanings

• literally (word for word) there is not even the first stroke of the character 八[ba1] (idiomatic expression)
• metaphorically things have not even begun to take shape
• no sign of success yet

Pinyin

ba1 zi4 hai2 mei2 yi1 pie3 r5

Literal

Literal explanation, with pronunciation and meaning of each character.

八ba1eight 字zi4letter 还hai2surname Huan 没mei2(negative prefix for verbs) 一yi1one 撇pie1to cast away 儿er2variant of 人[ren2]