DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT
光說不練
简 光说不练 · 繁 光說不練Mandarin · pinyin guāng shuō bù liàn
Meanings
- all talk and no action (idiom)
- to preach what one does not practice
- same as 光說不做 guāng shuō bù zuò
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Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.
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Mandarin tones
1–1–4–4 · guang1 shuo1 bu4 lian4
Compare attested words with these syllables ↗Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.
Connected dictionary
5character links1source reference
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.
光說不練 · find source passages ↗ · 光说不练 · find source passages ↗