DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

刻意求工

Mandarin · pinyin kè yì qiú gōng

assiduous and painstaking

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

刻: kè · carve, engrave; quarter hour
意: yì · thought, idea, opinion; think
求: qiú · seek; demand, request; beseech
工: gōng · labor, work; worker, laborer

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

4–4–2–1 · ke4 yi4 qiu2 gong1

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

4character links

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

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.

刻意求工 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Rime

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

hak1 ji3 kau4 gung1

Cantonese word readings for 刻意求工. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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