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懲惡揚善

简惩恶扬善 · 繁懲惡揚善

Mandarin · pinyin chéng è yáng shàn

to uphold virtue and condemn evil (idiom)

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Characters in this entry

懲: Look up this written character
惡: Look up this written character
揚: Look up this written character
善: shàn · good, virtuous, charitable, kind
惩: chéng · punish, reprimand; warn
恶: è · evil, wicked, bad, foul
扬: yáng · scatter, spread; praise

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

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Mandarin tones

2–4–2–4 · cheng2 e4 yang2 shan4

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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.

懲惡揚善 · find source passages ↗ · 惩恶扬善 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

cing4 ok3 joeng4 sin6

Cantonese word readings for 懲惡揚善. 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

(idiomatic) to punish the evil and praise the good

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

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