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吃軟不吃硬

简吃软不吃硬 · 繁吃軟不吃硬

Mandarin · pinyin chī ruǎn bù chī yìng

lit. eats soft food, but refuses hard food (idiom)
amenable to coaxing but not coercion

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Characters in this entry

吃: chī · eat; drink; suffer, endure, bear
軟: Look up this written character
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
硬: yìng · hard, firm, strong; obstinate
软: ruǎn · soft, flexible, pliable; weak

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

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Mandarin tones

1–3–4–1–4 · chi1 ruan3 bu4 chi1 ying4

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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.

吃軟不吃硬 · find source passages ↗ · 吃软不吃硬 · find source passages ↗

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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 be amenable to friendly persuasion but not to compulsion

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

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