恩威兼施

Mandarin · pinyin ēn wēi jiān shī

Meanings

  1. to employ both kindness and severity (idiom)
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Characters in this entry

恩
ēn · kindness, mercy, charity
威
wēi · pomp, power; powerful; dominate
兼
jiān · unite, combine; connect; and
施
shī · grant, bestow; give; act; name
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

1–1–1–1 · en1 wei1 jian1 shi1

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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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