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一以貫之

简一以贯之 · 繁一以貫之

Mandarin · pinyin yī yǐ guàn zhī

(idiom) (of a principle, purpose etc) consistently upheld; adhered to from beginning to end

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Characters in this entry

一: yī · one; a, an; alone
以: yǐ · by means of; thereby, therefore; consider as; in order to
貫: Look up this written character
之: zhī · marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; go to
贯: guàn · a string of 1000 coins; to go through

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

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Mandarin tones

1–3–4–1 · yi1 yi3 guan4 zhi1

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

一以貫之 · find source passages ↗ · 一以贯之 · find source passages ↗

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

phrase

(idiomatic) to go through all things with the same principle

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

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