DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

人窮志短

简人穷志短 · 繁人窮志短

Mandarin · pinyin rén qióng zhì duǎn

poor and with low expectations
poverty stunts ambition

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

人: rén · man; people; mankind; someone else
窮: Look up this written character
志: zhì · purpose, will, determination; annals
短: duǎn · short; brief; deficient, lacking
穷: qióng · poor, destitute, impoverished

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

2–2–4–3 · ren2 qiong2 zhi4 duan3

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

4character links

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

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.

人窮志短 · find source passages ↗ · 人穷志短 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

jan4 kung4 zi3 dyun2

Cantonese word readings for 人窮志短. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

(idiomatic) one's aspirations are stifled because of poverty

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

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack