LookupMandarin · 繁體 · English

ChineseCharactersMeanings inMandarin–English · CC-CEDICTSources ↗

DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

來之不易

简来之不易 · 繁來之不易

Mandarin · pinyin lái zhī bù yì

(idiom) hard to come by; not easily obtained

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

來: lái · come, coming; return, returning
之: zhī · marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; go to
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
易: yì · change; easy
来: lái · come, coming; return, returning

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

2–1–4–4 · lai2 zhi1 bu4 yi4

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

5character links

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

(idiomatic) to not come easily; to be hard-won or hard-earned

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack