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大驚小怪

简大惊小怪 · 繁大驚小怪

Mandarin · pinyin dà jīng xiǎo guài

to make a fuss about nothing (idiom)

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Characters in this entry

大: dà · big, great, vast, large, high
驚: Look up this written character
小: xiǎo · small, tiny, insignificant
怪: guài · strange, unusual, peculiar
惊: jīng · frighten, surprise, startle

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

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Mandarin tones

4–1–3–4 · da4 jing1 xiao3 guai4

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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.

大驚小怪 · find source passages ↗ · 大惊小怪 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

daai6 geng1 siu2 gwaai3

Cantonese word readings for 大驚小怪. 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 make a fuss over a trivial matter; much ado about nothing

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

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