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以人廢言

简以人废言 · 繁以人廢言

Mandarin · pinyin yǐ rén fèi yán

to reject a word because of the speaker (idiom, from Analects); to judge on preference between advisers rather than the merits of the case

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Characters in this entry

以: yǐ · by means of; thereby, therefore; consider as; in order to
人: rén · man; people; mankind; someone else
廢: Look up this written character
言: yán · words, speech; speak, say; Kangxi radical 149
废: fèi · abrogate, terminate, discard

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

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Mandarin tones

3–2–4–2 · yi3 ren2 fei4 yan2

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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.

以人廢言 · find source passages ↗ · 以人废言 · find source passages ↗

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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

ji5 jan4 fai3 jin4

Cantonese word readings for 以人廢言. 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 reject an opinion because the speaker is not good or not to one's liking

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

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