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乏善可陳

简乏善可陈 · 繁乏善可陳

Mandarin · pinyin fá shàn kě chén

(idiom) to be nothing to write home about

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Characters in this entry

乏: fá · lack; poor
善: shàn · good, virtuous, charitable, kind
可: kě · may, can, -able; possibly
陳: Look up this written character
陈: chén · exhibit, display; plead; a surname

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

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Mandarin tones

2–4–3–2 · fa2 shan4 ke3 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.

乏善可陳 · find source passages ↗ · 乏善可陈 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

fat6 sin6 ho2 can4

Cantonese word readings for 乏善可陳. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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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 have nothing notable or praiseworthy

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

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