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做一天和尚撞一天鐘

简做一天和尚撞一天钟 · 繁做一天和尚撞一天鐘

Mandarin · pinyin zuò yī tiān hé shang zhuàng yī tiān zhōng

lit. as a monk for today, toll today's bell (idiom)
fig. to do one's job mechanically
to hold a position passively

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Characters in this entry

做: zuò · work, make; act
一: yī · one; a, an; alone
天: tiān · sky, heaven; god, celestial
和: hé · harmony, peace; peaceful, calm
尚: shàng · still, yet; even; fairly, rather
撞: zhuàng · knock against, bump into, collide
鐘: Look up this written character
钟: zhōng · clock; bell

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

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Mandarin tones

4–1–1–2–5–4–1–1–1 · zuo4 yi1 tian1 he2 shang5 zhuang4 yi1 tian1 zhong1

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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.

做一天和尚撞一天鐘 · find source passages ↗ · 做一天和尚撞一天钟 · 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.

proverb

(alt-of, alternative) alternative form of 當一天和尚撞一天鐘 /当一天和尚撞一天钟 (“to do the least that is expected; to do the absolute minimum; to not put oneself out”)

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

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