DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

多栽花少栽刺

Mandarin · pinyin duō zāi huā shǎo zāi cì

talk nicely and avoid disputes
give compliments and not remarks

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Characters in this entry

多: duō · much, many; more than, over
栽: zāi · to cultivate, plant; to care for plants
花: huā · flower; blossoms
少: shǎo · few, less, inadequate
刺: cì · stab; prick, irritate; prod

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Mandarin tones

1–1–1–3–1–4 · duo1 zai1 hua1 shao3 zai1 ci4

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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.

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