DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

平庸之惡

简平庸之恶 · 繁平庸之惡

Mandarin · pinyin píng yōng zhī è

(philosophy) banal evil

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Characters in this entry

平: píng · flat, level, even; peaceful
庸: yōng · usual, common, ordinary, mediocre
之: zhī · marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; go to
惡: Look up this written character
恶: è · evil, wicked, bad, foul

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

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Mandarin tones

2–1–1–4 · ping2 yong1 zhi1 e4

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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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