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寸土寸金

Mandarin · pinyin cùn tǔ cùn jīn

land is extremely expensive (in that area) (idiom)

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Characters in this entry

寸: cùn · inch; small, tiny; Kangxi radical 41
土: tǔ · soil, earth; items made of earth
金: jīn · gold; metals in general; money; Kangxi radical 167

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

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Mandarin tones

4–3–4–1 · cun4 tu3 cun4 jin1

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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.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

cyun3 tou2 cyun3 gam1

Cantonese word readings for 寸土寸金. 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) every inch of land is an inch of gold; land is extremely expensive in an area

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

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