九牛二虎之力
jiǔ niú èr hǔ zhī lì
a huge effort
Character by character
九jiǔ
nine
nine
牛niú
oxen
oxen
二èr
two
two
虎hǔ
tigers
tigers
之zhī
of
of
力lì
strength
strength
Example
我费了九牛二虎之力才把箱子搬上楼。
It took everything I had to get the box upstairs.
Tone: neutral.
Usage and origin
Almost always 费了九牛二虎之力(才…).
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