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DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

鑒往知來

简 鉴往知来 · 繁 鑒往知來
Mandarin · pinyin jiàn wǎng zhī lái

Meanings

  1. to observe the past to foresee the future (idiom, taken loosely from Book of Songs); studying ancient wisdom gives insight into what is to come
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Characters in this entry

鑒
Look up this written character
往
wǎng · go, depart; past, formerly
知
zhī · know, perceive, comprehend
來
lái · come, coming; return, returning
鉴
jiàn · mirror, looking glass; reflect
来
lái · come, coming; return, returning
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

Explore the spelling

Entries containing 鑒往知來 ↗Words written with 鑒 ↗Words written with 往 ↗Words written with 知 ↗Words written with 來 ↗Words written with 鉴 ↗Words written with 来 ↗

Mandarin tones

4–3–1–2 · jian4 wang3 zhi1 lai2

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Compare dictionary sources 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

gaam3 wong5 zi1 loi4

Cantonese word readings for 鑒往知來. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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

gaam3 wong5 zi1 loi4

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

鑒往知來 · jian4 wang3 zhi1 lai2
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 112,946
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record鑒往知來 鉴往知来 [jian4 wang3 zhi1 lai2] /to observe the past to foresee the future (idiom, taken loosely from Book of Songs); studying ancient wisdom gives insight into what is to come/