來得早不如來得巧

简 来得早不如来得巧 · 繁 來得早不如來得巧
Mandarin · pinyin lái de zǎo bù rú lái de qiǎo

Meanings

  1. arriving early can't beat coming at the right time
  2. perfect timing
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Characters in this entry

來
lái · come, coming; return, returning
得
dé · obtain, get, gain, acquire
早
zǎo · early; soon; morning
不
bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
如
rú · if, supposing; as if; like, as
巧
qiǎo · skillful, ingenious, clever
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

2–5–3–4–2–2–5–3 · lai2 de5 zao3 bu4 ru2 lai2 de5 qiao3

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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.

來得早不如來得巧 · find source passages ↗ · 来得早不如来得巧 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

loi4 dak1 zou2 bat1 jyu4 loi4 dak1 haau2

Cantonese word readings for 來得早不如來得巧. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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

來得早不如來得巧 · lai2 de5 zao3 bu4 ru2 lai2 de5 qiao3
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 7,691
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record來得早不如來得巧 来得早不如来得巧 [lai2 de5 zao3 bu4 ru2 lai2 de5 qiao3] /arriving early can't beat coming at the right time/perfect timing/