LookupMandarin · 繁體 · English

ChineseCharactersMeanings inMandarin–English · CC-CEDICTSources ↗

DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

無利不起早

简无利不起早 · 繁無利不起早

Mandarin · pinyin wú lì bù qǐ zǎo

(saying) people don't get up early unless there is some benefit in doing so
won't lift a finger unless there's something in it for oneself

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

無: Look up this written character
利: lì · gains, advantage, profit, merit
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
起: qǐ · rise, stand up; go up; begin
早: zǎo · early; soon; morning
无: wú · negative, no, not; Kangxi radical 71

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

2–4–4–3–3 · wu2 li4 bu4 qi3 zao3

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.