DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

吉光片羽

Mandarin · pinyin jí guāng piàn yǔ

(lit.) a fragment of the fur of the Jiguang, a mythical beast (idiom)
(fig.) precious fragment; treasured remnant

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

吉: jí · lucky, propitious, good
光: guāng · light, brilliant, shine; only
片: piàn · slice, splinter, strip; rad. 91
羽: yǔ · feather, plume; wings; Kangxi radical 124

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

2–1–4–3 · ji2 guang1 pian4 yu3

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.

吉光片羽 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

noun

fragments of a highly treasured relic

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

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