一日之計在於晨

简 一日之计在于晨 · 繁 一日之計在於晨
Mandarin · pinyin yī rì zhī jì zài yú chén

Meanings

  1. make your day's plan early in the morning (idiom)
  2. early morning is the golden time of the day
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Characters in this entry

一
yī · one; a, an; alone
日
rì · sun; day; daytime
之
zhī · marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; go to
計
Look up this written character
在
zài · be at, in, on; consist in, rest
於
yú · yū · in, at, on; interjection alas!
晨
chén · early morning, daybreak
计
jì · plan, plot; stratagem; scheme
于
yú · in, on, at; go to; surname
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

1–4–1–4–4–2–2 · yi1 ri4 zhi1 ji4 zai4 yu2 chen2

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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.

一日之計在於晨 · find source passages ↗ · 一日之计在于晨 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

jat1 jat6 zi1 gai3 zoi6 jyu1 san4

Cantonese word readings for 一日之計在於晨. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

proverb

  1. Early morning is the most precious period of time in a day; Make one's plan for the day in the early morning

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

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

一日之計在於晨 · yi1 ri4 zhi1 ji4 zai4 yu2 chen2
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 662
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record一日之計在於晨 一日之计在于晨 [yi1 ri4 zhi1 ji4 zai4 yu2 chen2] /make your day's plan early in the morning (idiom)/early morning is the golden time of the day/