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寶刀不老

简宝刀不老 · 繁寶刀不老

Mandarin · pinyin bǎo dāo bù lǎo

lit. a good sword always remains sharp (idiom)
fig. (of one's skills etc) to be as good as ever
the old man still has it

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Characters in this entry

寶: Look up this written character
刀: dāo · knife; old coin; measure
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
老: lǎo · old, aged; experienced; Kangxi radical 125
宝: bǎo · treasure, jewel; precious, rare

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

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Mandarin tones

3–1–4–3 · bao3 dao1 bu4 lao3

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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.

寶刀不老 · find source passages ↗ · 宝刀不老 · find source passages ↗

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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

bou2 dou1 bat1 lou5

Cantonese word readings for 寶刀不老. 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) old but still got it; as vigorous and active as before; just as skilled as when one was young

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

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