初生之犢不畏虎
简 初生之犊不畏虎 · 繁 初生之犢不畏虎Meanings
Characters in this entry
- 初
- chū · beginning, initial, primary
- 生
- shēng · life, living, lifetime; birth
- 之
- zhī · marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; go to
- 犢
- Look up this written character
- 不
- bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
- 畏
- wèi · fear, dread, awe, reverence
- 虎
- hǔ · tiger; brave, fierce; surname
- 犊
- dú · calf; victim of sacrifice
Explore the spelling
Mandarin tones
1–1–1–2–4–4–3 · chu1 sheng1 zhi1 du2 bu4 wei4 hu3
Compare attested words with these syllables ↗Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.
Connected dictionary
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.
初生之犢不畏虎 · find source passages ↗ · 初生之犊不畏虎 · find source passages ↗
Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading
Rime Cantonese 粵拼
co1 sang1 zi1 duk6 bat1 wai3 fu2
Cantonese word readings for 初生之犢不畏虎. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.
CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack
Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section
Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.
proverb
- A young person is often fearless and willing to take risks.
Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack