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不以人廢言

简不以人废言 · 繁不以人廢言

Mandarin · pinyin bù yǐ rén fèi yán

not to reject a word because of the speaker (idiom, from Analects); to judge on the merits of the case rather than preference between advisers

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Characters in this entry

不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
以: yǐ · by means of; thereby, therefore; consider as; in order to
人: rén · man; people; mankind; someone else
廢: Look up this written character
言: yán · words, speech; speak, say; Kangxi radical 149
废: fèi · abrogate, terminate, discard

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

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Mandarin tones

4–3–2–4–2 · bu4 yi3 ren2 fei4 yan2

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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.

不以人廢言 · find source passages ↗ · 不以人废言 · 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 not reject an opinion because of the person expressing it

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

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