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勞而無功

简劳而无功 · 繁勞而無功

Mandarin · pinyin láo ér wú gōng

to work hard while accomplishing little
to toil to no avail

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Characters in this entry

勞: Look up this written character
而: ér · and; and then; and yet; but; Kangxi radical 126
無: Look up this written character
功: gōng · achievement, merit, good result
劳: láo · labor, toil, do manual work
无: wú · negative, no, not; Kangxi radical 71

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

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Mandarin tones

2–2–2–1 · lao2 er2 wu2 gong1

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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.

勞而無功 · find source passages ↗ · 劳而无功 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

lou4 ji4 mou4 gung1

Cantonese word readings for 勞而無功. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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