功亏一篑
gōng kuī yī kuìgongkuiyikui
- lit. to ruin the enterprise for the sake of one basketful
- to fail through lack of a final effort
- to spoil the ship for a ha'penny worth of tar (idiom)
gōng kuī yī kuìgongkuiyikui
Data from JMdict, KANJIDIC2 (EDRDG), KanjiVG, CC-CEDICT and Make Me a Hanzi. Sources and licences