一清如水

Mandarin · pinyin yī qīng rú shuǐ

Meanings

  1. lit. as clear as water (idiom)
  2. fig. (of officials etc) honest and incorruptible
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Characters in this entry

一
yī · one; a, an; alone
清
qīng · clear, pure, clean; peaceful
如
rú · if, supposing; as if; like, as
水
shuǐ · water, liquid, lotion, juice
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

1–1–2–3 · yi1 qing1 ru2 shui3

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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.

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Compare dictionary sources 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

jat1 cing1 jyu4 seoi2

Cantonese word readings for 一清如水. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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

一清如水 · yi1 qing1 ru2 shui3
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 748
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record一清如水 一清如水 [yi1 qing1 ru2 shui3] /lit. as clear as water (idiom)/fig. (of officials etc) honest and incorruptible/