刀不磨要生鏽,人不學要落後

简 刀不磨要生锈,人不学要落后 · 繁 刀不磨要生鏽,人不學要落後
Mandarin · pinyin dāo bù mó yào shēng xiù , rén bù xué yào luò hòu

Meanings

  1. (proverb) a blade will get rusty if it is not sharpened; a man will fall behind if he doesn't study
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Characters in this entry

刀
dāo · knife; old coin; measure
不
bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
磨
mó · grind; polish; rub; wear out; a millstone
要
yào · necessary, essential; necessity
生
shēng · life, living, lifetime; birth
鏽
Look up this written character
人
rén · man; people; mankind; someone else
學
xué · learning, knowledge; school
落
luò · fall, drop; net income, surplus
後
hòu · behind, rear, after; descendents
锈
xiù · rust, corrode
学
xué · learning, knowledge; school
后
hòu · queen, empress, sovereign; (simp. for 後) behind, rear, after
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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刀不磨要生鏽,人不學要落後 · find source passages ↗ · 刀不磨要生锈,人不学要落后 · find source passages ↗

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刀不磨要生鏽,人不學要落後 · dao1 bu4 mo2 yao4 sheng1 xiu4 , ren2 bu4 xue2 yao4 luo4 hou4
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 13,381
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record刀不磨要生鏽,人不學要落後 刀不磨要生锈,人不学要落后 [dao1 bu4 mo2 yao4 sheng1 xiu4 , ren2 bu4 xue2 yao4 luo4 hou4] /(proverb) a blade will get rusty if it is not sharpened; a man will fall behind if he doesn't study/