十年樹木,百年樹人

简 十年树木,百年树人 · 繁 十年樹木,百年樹人
Mandarin · pinyin shí nián shù mù , bǎi nián shù rén

Meanings

  1. (idiom) it takes ten years to grow trees, but a hundred years to cultivate people
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Characters in this entry

十
shí · ten, tenth; complete; perfect
年
nián · year; new-years; person's age
樹
shù · tree; plant; set up, establish
木
mù · tree; wood, lumber; wooden
百
bǎi · one hundred; numerous, many
人
rén · man; people; mankind; someone else
树
shù · tree; plant; set up, establish
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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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.

十年樹木,百年樹人 · find source passages ↗ · 十年树木,百年树人 · find source passages ↗

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十年樹木,百年樹人 · shi2 nian2 shu4 mu4 , bai3 nian2 shu4 ren2
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 16,619
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record十年樹木,百年樹人 十年树木,百年树人 [shi2 nian2 shu4 mu4 , bai3 nian2 shu4 ren2] /(idiom) it takes ten years to grow trees, but a hundred years to cultivate people/