以小博大
yǐ xiǎo bó dà
to use small means to win something big; to punch above one’s weight
Character by character
以yǐ
with
with
小xiǎo
small
small
博bó
win
win
大dà
big
big
Example
这支业余球队以小博大，竟然淘汰了一支职业强队。
This amateur side punched above its weight and actually knocked out a strong professional team.
Tone: neutral.
Usage and origin
博 here means “to win, to gain”, as in 博得. Praise for an underdog’s clever strategy in sport or business; in finance it also means putting in a small stake for a large possible return, so it can carry a warning about risk.
Learn this in Lesson 72 · HSK 6: DeepSeek与大模型 (DeepSeek and the AI race)
A dialogue, a reading, word cards with audio and a drill that uses it, in Learn Chinese with Bao. The first lessons of every level are free.
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