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大而化之

Mandarin · pinyin dà ér huà zhī

careless
sloppy

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Characters in this entry

大: dà · big, great, vast, large, high
而: ér · and; and then; and yet; but; Kangxi radical 126
化: huà · change, convert, reform; -ize
之: zhī · marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; go to

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Mandarin tones

4–2–4–1 · da4 er2 hua4 zhi1

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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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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

daai6 ji4 faa3 zi1

Cantonese word readings for 大而化之. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

(idiomatic) to do something carelessly and not pay attention to details

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

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