DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

國弱民窮

简国弱民穷 · 繁國弱民窮

Mandarin · pinyin guó ruò mín qióng

the country weakened and the people empoverished (idiom)

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

國: Look up this written character
弱: ruò · weak; fragile, delicate
民: mín · people, subjects, citizens
窮: Look up this written character
国: guó · nation, country, nation-state
穷: qióng · poor, destitute, impoverished

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

2–4–2–2 · guo2 ruo4 min2 qiong2

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.

國弱民窮 · find source passages ↗ · 国弱民穷 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗