一寸光陰一寸金

简 一寸光阴一寸金 · 繁 一寸光陰一寸金
Mandarin · pinyin yī cùn guāng yīn yī cùn jīn

Meanings

  1. (saying) time is precious
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Characters in this entry

一
yī · one; a, an; alone
寸
cùn · inch; small, tiny; Kangxi radical 41
光
guāng · light, brilliant, shine; only
陰
Look up this written character
金
jīn · gold; metals in general; money; Kangxi radical 167
阴
yīn · 'female' principle; dark; secret
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

1–4–1–1–1–4–1 · yi1 cun4 guang1 yin1 yi1 cun4 jin1

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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.

一寸光陰一寸金 · find source passages ↗ · 一寸光阴一寸金 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

jat1 cyun3 gwong1 jam1 jat1 cyun3 gam1

Cantonese word readings for 一寸光陰一寸金. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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

一寸光陰一寸金 · yi1 cun4 guang1 yin1 yi1 cun4 jin1
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 566
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record一寸光陰一寸金 一寸光阴一寸金 [yi1 cun4 guang1 yin1 yi1 cun4 jin1] /(saying) time is precious/