DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

任人唯親

简任人唯亲 · 繁任人唯親

Mandarin · pinyin rèn rén wéi qīn

(idiom) to practice nepotism or cronyism in making appointments

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

任: rèn · trust to, rely on, appoint; to bear, duty, office; allow
人: rén · man; people; mankind; someone else
唯: wéi · only; yes
親: qīn · relatives, parents; intimate
亲: qīn · relatives, parents; intimate the hazel nut or filbert tree a thorny tree

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

4–2–2–1 · ren4 ren2 wei2 qin1

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

5character 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.

任人唯親 · find source passages ↗ · 任人唯亲 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

jam6 jan4 wai4 can1

Cantonese word readings for 任人唯親. 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) to appoint people by favouritism; nepotism

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

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