吃力不討好

Simplified: 吃力不讨好

chīlìbùtǎohǎo ㄔ ㄌㄧˋ ㄅㄨˋ ㄊㄠˇ ㄏㄠˇ

    • arduous and thankless task (idiom) strenuous and unrewarding

Character by character

Sources