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小聰明

简小聪明 · 繁小聰明

Mandarin · pinyin xiǎo cōng ming

clever-clever
clever in trivial matters
sharp but petty-minded

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Characters in this entry

小: xiǎo · small, tiny, insignificant
聰: Look up this written character
明: míng · bright, light, brilliant; clear
聪: cōng · intelligent, clever, bright

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

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Mandarin tones

3–1–5 · xiao3 cong1 ming5

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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.

小聰明 · find source passages ↗ · 小聪明 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

siu2 cung1 ming4

Cantonese word readings for 小聰明. 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.

noun

(usually derogatory) petty trick

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

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