DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT
工欲善其事，必先利其器
Mandarin · pinyin gōng yù shàn qí shì , bì xiān lì qí qì
Meanings
- To do a good job, an artisan needs the best tools (idiom). Good tools are prerequisite to the successful execution of a job
Characters in this entry
- 工
- gōng · labor, work; worker, laborer
- 欲
- yù · desire, want, long for; intend
- 善
- shàn · good, virtuous, charitable, kind
- 其
- qí · his, her, its, their; that
- 事
- shì · affair, matter, business; to serve; accident, incident
- 必
- bì · surely, most certainly; must
- 先
- xiān · first, former, previous
- 利
- lì · gains, advantage, profit, merit
- 器
- qì · receptacle, vessel; instrument
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Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.Compare dictionary sources 1 Cantonese reading
gung1 juk6 sin6 kei4 si6 ，bit1 sin1 lei6 kei4 hei3
Pleco · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Word reading; meanings not aligned.