偷工减料 – Tou Gong Jian Liao – Botch-up

Chengyu

偷工减料 – tōu gōng jiǎn liào

Chinese Character Break Down

偷 – save
工 – work
减 – reduce
料 – material

偷工减料: Saving work, reducing material.

Idiom Meaning

The meaning is pretty obvious once you break it down into characters. This Chengyu referrs to botching things up, doing a really poor job, jerry-building. You may encounter this Chengyu when, for example, the news talk about poorly done construction work.

Chengyu Examples

他们因盖房子偷工减料而被炒了鱿鱼。
tāmen yīn gǎi fángzi tōugōngjiǎnliào ér bèi chǎo le yóuyú.
They got fired for doing a poor job building the house.

不管生产什么产品，都不能偷工减料。
bùguǎn shēngchǎn shénme chǎnpǐn, dōu bùnéng tōugōngjiǎnliào.
No matter what product you’re producing, you can’t botch it up.

Easy use: Action + 偷工减料, Action + 不能 + 偷工减料, …

Chengyu Story and Background

I find it very hard to get information on this idiom. It’s from the Qing Dynasty novel Er Nü Ying Xiong Chuan (儿女英雄传) by Wen Kang. Nevertheless I think it is very useful for everyday conversation. If you have more info about it’s origin, feel free to comment!