君子動口不動手

简 君子动口不动手 · 繁 君子動口不動手
Mandarin · pinyin jūn zǐ dòng kǒu bù dòng shǒu

Meanings

  1. a gentleman uses his mouth and not his fist
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Characters in this entry

君
jūn · sovereign, monarch, ruler, chief, prince
子
zǐ · offspring, child; fruit, seed of; first earthly branch
動
dòng · move, happen; movement, action
口
kǒu · mouth; open end; entrance, gate
不
bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
手
shǒu · hand
动
dòng · move, happen; movement, action
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

1–3–4–3–4–4–3 · jun1 zi3 dong4 kou3 bu4 dong4 shou3

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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.

君子動口不動手 · find source passages ↗ · 君子动口不动手 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

gwan1 zi2 dung6 hau2 bat1 dung6 sau2

Cantonese word readings for 君子動口不動手. 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.

proverb

  1. a gentleman settles a dispute through communication instead of a fight; a gentleman uses his mouth and not his fist

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

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

君子動口不動手 · jun1 zi3 dong4 kou3 bu4 dong4 shou3
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 20,453
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record君子動口不動手 君子动口不动手 [jun1 zi3 dong4 kou3 bu4 dong4 shou3] /a gentleman uses his mouth and not his fist/