四大發明

简 四大发明 · 繁 四大發明
Mandarin · pinyin sì dà fā míng

Meanings

  1. the Four Great Inventions (papermaking, printing, the compass, and gunpowder, traditionally regarded as the four major inventions of ancient China)
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Characters in this entry

四
sì · four
大
dà · big, great, vast, large, high
發
fā · issue, dispatch, send out, emit
明
míng · bright, light, brilliant; clear
发
fā · issue, dispatch, send out; hair
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–4–1–2 · si4 da4 fa1 ming2

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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.

四大發明 · find source passages ↗ · 四大发明 · find source passages ↗

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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.

name

  1. the Four Great Inventions

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

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

四大發明 · si4 da4 fa1 ming2
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 23,755
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record四大發明 四大发明 [si4 da4 fa1 ming2] /the Four Great Inventions (papermaking, printing, the compass, and gunpowder, traditionally regarded as the four major inventions of ancient China)/