三天不打，上房揭瓦

Traditional form:

三天不打，上房揭瓦

Pinyin (reading):

sāntiānbùdǎ,shàngfángjiēwǎ

Definitions:

• three days without a beating, and a child will scale the roof to rip the tiles (idiom)
• spare the rod, spoil the child

Characters:

• 三 - three
• 天 - sky, heaven; god, celestial
• 不 - no, not, un-; negative prefix
• 打 - to attack, to beat, to hit, to strike
• 上 - above, on top, superior; to go up; to attend; previous
• 房 - building, house, room
• 揭 - to lift off a cover; to reveal, to divulge; surname
• 瓦 - tile; pottery, earthenware

Traditional characters:

• 三 - three
• 天 - sky, heaven; god, celestial
• 不 - no, not, un-; negative prefix
• 打 - to attack, to beat, to hit, to strike
• 上 - above, on top, superior; to go up; to attend; previous
• 房 - building, house, room
• 揭 - to lift off a cover; to reveal, to divulge; surname
• 瓦 - tile; pottery, earthenware