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來之不易

简来之不易 · 繁來之不易

Mandarin · pinyin lái zhī bù yì

(idiom) hard to come by; not easily obtained

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Characters in this entry

來: lái · come, coming; return, returning
之: zhī · marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; go to
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
易: yì · change; easy
来: lái · come, coming; return, returning

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

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Mandarin tones

2–1–4–4 · lai2 zhi1 bu4 yi4

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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.

來之不易 · find source passages ↗ · 来之不易 · find source passages ↗

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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 not come easily; to be hard-won or hard-earned

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

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