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吹灰之力

Mandarin · pinyin chuī huī zhī lì

(idiom) a slight effort

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Characters in this entry

吹: chuī · blow; puff; brag, boast
灰: huī · ashes; dust; lime, mortar
之: zhī · marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; go to
力: lì · power, capability, influence; Kangxi radical 19

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

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Mandarin tones

1–1–1–4 · chui1 hui1 zhi1 li4

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

ceoi1 fui1 zi1 lik6

Cantonese word readings for 吹灰之力. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

ceoi1 fui1 zi1 lik6

Pleco · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Word reading; meanings not aligned.

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

phrase

(idiomatic) very little effort

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

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