百善孝為先

简 百善孝为先 · 繁 百善孝為先
Mandarin · pinyin bǎi shàn xiào wéi xiān

Meanings

  1. of all virtues filial piety is most important (idiom)
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Characters in this entry

百
bǎi · one hundred; numerous, many
善
shàn · good, virtuous, charitable, kind
孝
xiào · filial piety, obedience; mourning
為
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先
xiān · first, former, previous
为
wèi · do, handle, govern, act; be
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

3–4–4–2–1 · bai3 shan4 xiao4 wei2 xian1

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

baak3 sin6 haau3 wai4 sin1

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.

proverb

  1. Of all virtues, filial piety comes first; Filial piety is the most important of all virtues

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

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

百善孝為先 · bai3 shan4 xiao4 wei2 xian1
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 77,008
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record百善孝為先 百善孝为先 [bai3 shan4 xiao4 wei2 xian1] /of all virtues filial piety is most important (idiom)/