事後聰明

简 事后聪明 · 繁 事後聰明
Mandarin · pinyin shì hòu cōng ming

Meanings

  1. wise after the event (idiom); with hindsight, one should have predicted it
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Characters in this entry

事
shì · affair, matter, business; to serve; accident, incident
後
hòu · behind, rear, after; descendents
聰
Look up this written character
明
míng · bright, light, brilliant; clear
后
hòu · queen, empress, sovereign; (simp. for 後) behind, rear, after
聪
cōng · intelligent, clever, bright
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–4–1–5 · shi4 hou4 cong1 ming5

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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.

事後聰明 · find source passages ↗ · 事后聪明 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

si6 hau6 cung1 ming4

Cantonese word readings for 事後聰明. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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

事後聰明 · shi4 hou4 cong1 ming5
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 4,672
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record事後聰明 事后聪明 [shi4 hou4 cong1 ming5] /wise after the event (idiom); with hindsight, one should have predicted it/