德薄能鮮

简 德薄能鲜 · 繁 德薄能鮮
Mandarin · pinyin dé bó néng xiǎn

Meanings

  1. little virtue and meager abilities (idiom); I'm a humble person and not much use at anything (Song writer Ouyang Xiu 歐陽修 Ōu yáng Xiū)
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Characters in this entry

德
dé · ethics, morality, virtue
薄
báo · bó · thin, slight, weak; poor, stingy
能
néng · to be able; can, permitted to; ability
鮮
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鲜
xiān · fresh; delicious; attractive
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

2–2–2–3 · de2 bo2 neng2 xian3

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

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德薄能鮮 · de2 bo2 neng2 xian3
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 40,767
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record德薄能鮮 德薄能鲜 [de2 bo2 neng2 xian3] /little virtue and meager abilities (idiom); I'm a humble person and not much use at anything (Song writer Ouyang Xiu 歐陽修|欧阳修[Ou1 yang2 Xiu1])/