千慮一得

简 千虑一得 · 繁 千慮一得
Mandarin · pinyin qiān lǜ yī dé

Meanings

  1. a thousand tries leads to one success (idiom, humble expr.); Even without any notable ability on my part, I may still get it right sometimes by good luck.
Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

千
qiān · thousand; many, numerous; very; (Cant.) a cheater, swindler
慮
Look up this written character
一
yī · one; a, an; alone
得
dé · obtain, get, gain, acquire
虑
lǜ · be concerned, worry about
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

1–4–1–2 · qian1 lu:4 yi1 de2

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.

千慮一得 · find source passages ↗ · 千虑一得 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

  1. (humble, used to introduce one's opinion) even a fool may sometimes have a good idea

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

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

千慮一得 · qian1 lu:4 yi1 de2
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 16,691
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record千慮一得 千虑一得 [qian1 lu:4 yi1 de2] /a thousand tries leads to one success (idiom, humble expr.); Even without any notable ability on my part, I may still get it right sometimes by good luck./