小不忍則亂大謀

简 小不忍则乱大谋 · 繁 小不忍則亂大謀
Mandarin · pinyin xiǎo bù rěn zé luàn dà móu

Meanings

  1. (idiom) great plans can be ruined by just a touch of impatience
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Characters in this entry

小
xiǎo · small, tiny, insignificant
不
bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
忍
rěn · endure, bear, suffer; forbear
則
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亂
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大
dà · big, great, vast, large, high
謀
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则
zé · rule, law, regulation; grades
乱
luàn · confusion, state of chaos, revolt
谋
móu · plan, scheme; stratagem
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

3–4–3–2–4–4–2 · xiao3 bu4 ren3 ze2 luan4 da4 mou2

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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.

小不忍則亂大謀 · find source passages ↗ · 小不忍则乱大谋 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

siu2 bat1 jan2 zak1 lyun6 daai6 mau4

Cantonese word readings for 小不忍則亂大謀. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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

小不忍則亂大謀 · xiao3 bu4 ren3 ze2 luan4 da4 mou2
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 34,397
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record小不忍則亂大謀 小不忍则乱大谋 [xiao3 bu4 ren3 ze2 luan4 da4 mou2] /(idiom) great plans can be ruined by just a touch of impatience/