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不當家不知柴米貴

简不当家不知柴米贵 · 繁不當家不知柴米貴

Mandarin · pinyin bù dāng jiā bù zhī chái mǐ guì

a person who doesn't manage a household would not be aware how expensive it is (idiom)

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Characters in this entry

不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
當: dāng · bear, accept, undertake; just
家: jiā · house, home, residence; family
知: zhī · know, perceive, comprehend
柴: chái · firewood, faggots, fuel
米: mǐ · hulled or husked uncooked rice
貴: Look up this written character
当: dāng · bear, accept, undertake; just
贵: guì · expensive, costly, valuable

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

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Mandarin tones

4–1–1–4–1–2–3–4 · bu4 dang1 jia1 bu4 zhi1 chai2 mi3 gui4

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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.

不當家不知柴米貴 · find source passages ↗ · 不当家不知柴米贵 · 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.

proverb

managing a family is not easy, and requires responsibility

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

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