CANTONESE ↔ ENGLISH · CC-CANTO

寸土必爭

简寸土必争 · 繁寸土必爭

Cantonese · source Jyutpingcyun3 tou2 bit1 zang1

fighting even for a small amount of land, it means the enemies are both standing very strong and firm with their stances

About these definitions

Source definition segments, in their original order. Characters a definition cites are shown without their Mandarin pinyin; classifier lists that CC-Canto copied from CC-CEDICT are marked Mandarin. The community dictionary is not independently verified by zimai.

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Reading & tones

cyun33 · mid leveltou22 · high risingbit11 · high levelchecked · -tzang11 · high level

Schematic citation-tone diagrams from the source numbers. These are not recordings or predictions of connected speech.

Reading difference from Unihan

爭 has the reading zang1 here; Unihan’s citation reading is zaang1. Different syllable across these source readings. CC-Canto also lists 爭 zang1 as its own entry.

Computed by zimai: each syllable of the CC-Canto word reading is compared with Unihan 17.0.0 kCantonese for its character. The comparison does not say why a reading differs (a changed tone, 變音, a reading tied to one meaning, or a source variant).

Same syllable, six tones

cyun川cyun1river 窜cyun2to flee 串cyun3to string together 全cyun4allcyun5—cyun6—

tou叨tou1to get the benefit of 土tou2earth 套tou3cover 图tou4diagram 肚tou5bellytou6—

bit必bit1Surelybit2—憋bit3to chokebit4—bit5—别bit6to leave

zang增zang1to increasezang2—zang3—zang4—zang5—赠zang6to give as a present

Characters whose customary Unihan reading (kCantonese) is this syllable in each tone, chosen as in the tone atlas (2013 standard level, then the number of CC-CEDICT words they form), with CC-Canto 2017's meaning for that reading; a dash means no catalogue character has that reading. Checked syllables (-p, -t, -k) normally carry tones 1, 3 and 6. Character readings, not word readings; no frequency implied.

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Written characters

寸土必爭争

Both source spellings are represented. Written membership is not an etymological or semantic claim.

Cantonese characters and the Mandarin bridge ↗

Mandarin comparison · separate source entries

CC-Canto includes this pinyin reference: cun4 tu3 bi4 zheng1. It does not establish a Mandarin word with the same meaning.

Look up this spelling in the Mandarin dictionary ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

cyun3 tou2 bit1 zang1

Cantonese word readings for 寸土必爭. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

(idiomatic) to fight for every inch of land

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

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