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勸善懲惡

简劝善惩恶 · 繁勸善懲惡

Mandarin · pinyin quàn shàn chéng è

to encourage virtue and punish evil (idiom); fig. poetic justice
you get what's coming to you

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Characters in this entry

勸: Look up this written character
善: shàn · good, virtuous, charitable, kind
懲: Look up this written character
惡: Look up this written character
劝: quàn · recommend, advise, urge
惩: chéng · punish, reprimand; warn
恶: è · evil, wicked, bad, foul

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

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Mandarin tones

4–4–2–4 · quan4 shan4 cheng2 e4

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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.

勸善懲惡 · find source passages ↗ · 劝善惩恶 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

hyun3 sin6 cing4 ok3

Cantonese word readings for 勸善懲惡. 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 encourage the good and punish the wicked

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

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