DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

士農工商

简士农工商 · 繁士農工商

Mandarin · pinyin shì nóng gōng shāng

(idiom) "the four classes" of ancient China, i.e. scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

士: shì · scholar, gentleman; soldier
農: nóng · agriculture, farming; farmer
工: gōng · labor, work; worker, laborer
商: shāng · commerce, business, trade
农: nóng · agriculture, farming; farmer

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

4–2–1–1 · shi4 nong2 gong1 shang1

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

5character 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.

士農工商 · find source passages ↗ · 士农工商 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

si6 nung4 gung1 soeng1

Cantonese word readings for 士農工商. 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.

phrase

(idiomatic) the four occupations of ancient China: scholars, farmers, artisans and merchants

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

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