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害人不淺

简害人不浅 · 繁害人不淺

Mandarin · pinyin hài rén bù qiǎn

(idiom) (usu. of behaviors, systems or trends etc) to cause people tremendous harm

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Characters in this entry

害: hài · injure, harm; destroy, kill
人: rén · man; people; mankind; someone else
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
淺: Look up this written character
浅: qiǎn · shallow, not deep; superficial

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

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Mandarin tones

4–2–4–3 · hai4 ren2 bu4 qian3

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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.

害人不淺 · find source passages ↗ · 害人不浅 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

hoi6 jan4 bat1 cin2

Cantonese word readings for 害人不淺. 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 cause great harm to people

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

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