游刃有余

Pronunciation: yóu rèn yǒu yú Literal meaning: Moving blade with room to spare

Origin & Usage

Cook Ding in the Zhuangzi explains that his blade goes where the joints are already open, and that in a gap of that kind there is 恢恢乎其于游刃必有余地 — ample room for the moving (游) blade (刃) with something left over (有余). The claim is not that the work is easy but that the tool is smaller than the space it is working in. That margin is what the phrase names, and it goes to somebody whose capacity clearly exceeds what the job is asking of them.

Examples

English: "The experienced chef handled the busy kitchen effortlessly."

Chinese: 经验丰富的厨师在繁忙的厨房游刃有余。