不以詞害誌

简 不以词害志 · 繁 不以詞害誌
Mandarin · pinyin bù yǐ cí hài zhì

Meanings

  1. don't let rhetoric spoil the message (idiom); don't get carried away with flowery speech to the detriment of what you want to say
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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
詞
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害
hài · injure, harm; destroy, kill
誌
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词
cí · words; phrase, expression
志
zhì · purpose, will, determination; annals
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–3–2–4–4 · bu4 yi3 ci2 hai4 zhi4

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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.

不以詞害誌 · find source passages ↗ · 不以词害志 · find source passages ↗

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不以詞害誌 · bu4 yi3 ci2 hai4 zhi4
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 2,170
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record不以詞害誌 不以词害志 [bu4 yi3 ci2 hai4 zhi4] /don't let rhetoric spoil the message (idiom); don't get carried away with flowery speech to the detriment of what you want to say/