DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

小心謹慎

简小心谨慎 · 繁小心謹慎

Mandarin · pinyin xiǎo xīn jǐn shèn

cautious and timid (idiom); prudent
careful

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

小: xiǎo · small, tiny, insignificant
心: xīn · heart; mind, intelligence; soul; 5th lunar mansion, determinative star α Scorpii (Antares)
謹: Look up this written character
慎: shèn · act with care, be cautious
谨: jǐn · prudent, cautious; attentive

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

3–1–3–4 · xiao3 xin1 jin3 shen4

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

4character links

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

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.

小心謹慎 · find source passages ↗ · 小心谨慎 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

phrase

(idiomatic) careful

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

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack