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大興土木

简大兴土木 · 繁大興土木

Mandarin · pinyin dà xīng tǔ mù

to carry out large scale construction

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Characters in this entry

大: dà · big, great, vast, large, high
興: xìng · thrive, prosper, flourish
土: tǔ · soil, earth; items made of earth
木: mù · tree; wood, lumber; wooden
兴: xìng · thrive, prosper, flourish

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

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Mandarin tones

4–1–3–4 · da4 xing1 tu3 mu4

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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.

大興土木 · find source passages ↗ · 大兴土木 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

daai6 hing1 tou2 muk6

Cantonese word readings for 大興土木. 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 carry out a large-scale construction project (usually to build houses)

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

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