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勞民傷財

简劳民伤财 · 繁勞民傷財

Mandarin · pinyin láo mín shāng cái

(idiom) to waste both manpower and resources

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Characters in this entry

勞: Look up this written character
民: mín · people, subjects, citizens
傷: shāng · wound, injury; fall ill from
財: Look up this written character
劳: láo · labor, toil, do manual work
伤: shāng · wound, injury; fall ill from
财: cái · wealth, valuables, riches

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

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Mandarin tones

2–2–1–2 · lao2 min2 shang1 cai2

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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.

勞民傷財 · find source passages ↗ · 劳民伤财 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

lou4 man4 soeng1 coi4

Cantonese word readings for 勞民傷財. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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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.

phrase

(idiomatic) to waste both manpower and resources

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

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