DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

引玉之磚

简引玉之砖 · 繁引玉之磚

Mandarin · pinyin yǐn yù zhī zhuān

lit. a brick thrown to prompt others to produce a jade (idiom)
fig. a modest suggestion intended to prompt others to come forward with better ideas

Characters in this entry

引: yǐn · to pull, draw out, attract; to stretch
玉: yù · jade, precious stone, gem
之: zhī · marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; go to
磚: Look up this written character
砖: zhuān · tile, brick

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

3–4–1–1 · yin3 yu4 zhi1 zhuan1

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

4character links

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

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

jan5 juk6 zi1 zyun1

Cantonese word readings for 引玉之磚. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

jan5 juk6 zi1 zyun1

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

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

(self-deprecatory) one's own relatively worthless words, opinions, or services, offered in order to attract others' more valuable contributions