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小人得志

Mandarin · pinyin xiǎo rén dé zhì

lit. a vile character flourishes (idiom)
fig. an inferior person gets into a position of power, becoming conceited and arrogant

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Characters in this entry

小: xiǎo · small, tiny, insignificant
人: rén · man; people; mankind; someone else
得: dé · obtain, get, gain, acquire
志: zhì · purpose, will, determination; annals

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

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Mandarin tones

3–2–2–4 · xiao3 ren2 de2 zhi4

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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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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

phrase

(idiomatic) a person of low character attains power or success and becomes arrogant

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

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