白手興家

白手兴家
báishǒuxīngjiā

to start an enterprise from scratch; to build up from nothing; to start from scratch

Wiktionary

Entry Composition

1 白手 báishǒu with bare hands; being empty-handed; from nothing; from scratch
=2 興 Xīng surname Xing
=2 興 xīng
  1. to rise
  2. to flourish
  3. to become popular
  4. to start
  5. to encourage
  6. to get up
  7. (often used in the negative) to permit or allow (dialect)
  8. maybe (dialect)
=2 興 xìng
  1. feeling or desire to do sth
  2. interest in sth
  3. excitement
=3 家 jiā used in 傢伙 jiāhuo and 傢俱 jiājù
=3 家 jiā
  1. home
  2. family
  3. (polite) my (sister, uncle etc)
  4. classifier for families or businesses
  5. refers to the philosophical schools of pre-Han China
  6. noun suffix for a specialist in some activity, such as a musician or revolutionary, corresponding to English -ist, -er, -ary or -ian

classifier: 個
=3 家 jie only used in 大家 (dàgū)