bàn tú ér fèi
“Give up halfway”
To give up halfway; to leave something unfinished.
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, a man named Yue Yangzi left home to study far away. A year later, he returned because he missed his wife. His wife took a knife to the loom where she was weaving silk and said, "If I cut this silk now, all my previous effort is wasted. It is the same with your studies." Yue Yangzi was moved, returned to his studies, and didn't come back for seven years until he finished.
Use 半途而废 when:
我们做任何事情都不能半途而废。
Wǒmen zuò rènhé shìqing dōu bùnéng bàntú'érfèi.
We shouldn't give up halfway on anything we do.
他学法语学了一半就半途而废了。
Tā xué Fǎyǔ xuéle yíbàn jiù bàntú'érfèi le.
He learned French for a while but then gave up halfway.
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