DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

匠心獨運

简匠心独运 · 繁匠心獨運

Mandarin · pinyin jiàng xīn dú yùn

original and ingenious (idiom)
to show great creativity

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

匠: jiàng · craftsman, artisan; workman
心: xīn · heart; mind, intelligence; soul; 5th lunar mansion, determinative star α Scorpii (Antares)
獨: Look up this written character
運: Look up this written character
独: dú · alone, single, solitary, only
运: yùn · luck, fortune; ship, transport

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

4–1–2–4 · jiang4 xin1 du2 yun4

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.

匠心獨運 · find source passages ↗ · 匠心独运 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

zoeng6 sam1 duk6 wan6

Cantonese word readings for 匠心獨運. 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.

phrase

(chiefly of literature or art) to show great ingenuity; to have originality

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

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack