一寸光陰一寸金,寸金難買寸光陰

简 一寸光阴一寸金,寸金难买寸光阴 · 繁 一寸光陰一寸金,寸金難買寸光陰
Mandarin · pinyin yī cùn guāng yīn yī cùn jīn , cùn jīn nán mǎi cùn guāng yīn

Meanings

  1. (lit.) an interval of time is worth an ounce of gold, money cannot buy you time (saying)
  2. (fig.) 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
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金
jīn · gold; metals in general; money; Kangxi radical 167
難
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買
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阴
yīn · 'female' principle; dark; secret
难
nán · difficult, arduous, hard; unable
买
mǎi · buy, purchase; bribe, persuade
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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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,寸金難買寸光陰 · find source passages ↗ · 一寸光阴一寸金,寸金难买寸光阴 · find source passages ↗

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一寸光陰一寸金,寸金難買寸光陰 · yi1 cun4 guang1 yin1 yi1 cun4 jin1 , cun4 jin1 nan2 mai3 cun4 guang1 yin1
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 567
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record一寸光陰一寸金,寸金難買寸光陰 一寸光阴一寸金,寸金难买寸光阴 [yi1 cun4 guang1 yin1 yi1 cun4 jin1 , cun4 jin1 nan2 mai3 cun4 guang1 yin1] /(lit.) an interval of time is worth an ounce of gold, money cannot buy you time (saying)/(fig.) time is precious/