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人微言輕

简人微言轻 · 繁人微言輕

Mandarin · pinyin rén wēi yán qīng

(idiom) what lowly people think counts for little

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Characters in this entry

人: rén · man; people; mankind; someone else
微: wēi · small, prefix micro-, trifling
言: yán · words, speech; speak, say; Kangxi radical 149
輕: qīng · light; easy, simple; gentle
轻: qīng · light; easy, simple; gentle

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

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Mandarin tones

2–1–2–1 · ren2 wei1 yan2 qing1

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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.

人微言輕 · find source passages ↗ · 人微言轻 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

jan4 mei4 jin4 hing1

Cantonese word readings for 人微言輕. 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) the words of the lowly carry little weight

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

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