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小題大做

简小题大做 · 繁小題大做

Mandarin · pinyin xiǎo tí dà zuò

to make a big fuss over a minor issue (idiom)

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Characters in this entry

小: xiǎo · small, tiny, insignificant
題: Look up this written character
大: dà · big, great, vast, large, high
做: zuò · work, make; act
题: tí · forehead; title, headline; theme

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

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Mandarin tones

3–2–4–4 · xiao3 ti2 da4 zuo4

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4character links1same-tone record

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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.

小題大做 · find source passages ↗ · 小题大做 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

siu2 tai4 daai6 zou6

Cantonese word readings for 小題大做. 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.

phrase

(alt-of, alternative, idiomatic) alternative form of 小題大作 /小题大作 (xiǎotídàzuò, “to make a fuss over a trifling matter; to make a mountain out of a molehill; to blow out of proportion”)

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

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