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小菜一碟

Mandarin · pinyin xiǎo cài yī dié

a small appetizer
a piece of cake; very easy (idiom)

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Characters in this entry

小: xiǎo · small, tiny, insignificant
菜: cài · vegetables; dish, order; food
一: yī · one; a, an; alone
碟: dié · small dish, plate

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

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Mandarin tones

3–4–1–2 · xiao3 cai4 yi1 die2

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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.

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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 piece of cake; something very easy to accomplish

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

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