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天經地義

简天经地义 · 繁天經地義

Mandarin · pinyin tiān jīng dì yì

lit. heaven's law and earth's principle (idiom); fig. right and proper
right and unalterable
a matter of course

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Characters in this entry

天: tiān · sky, heaven; god, celestial
經: Look up this written character
地: de · dì · earth; soil, ground; region
義: Look up this written character
经: jīng · classic works; pass through
义: yì · right conduct, righteousness

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

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Mandarin tones

1–1–4–4 · tian1 jing1 di4 yi4

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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.

天經地義 · find source passages ↗ · 天经地义 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

tin1 ging1 dei6 ji6

Cantonese word readings for 天經地義. 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) conforming to the traditional Chinese notion of the rules of heaven and the principles of Earth; that which is taken as a matter of course; proper practice or convention; time-honoured principle

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

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