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戶樞不蠹

简户枢不蠹 · 繁戶樞不蠹

Mandarin · pinyin hù shū bù dù

lit. a door hinge never becomes worm-eaten
constant activity prevents decay (idiom)

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Characters in this entry

戶: Look up this written character
樞: Look up this written character
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
蠹: dù · moth; insects which eat into cloth
户: hù · door; family
枢: shū · door hinge; pivot; center of power

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

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Mandarin tones

4–1–4–4 · hu4 shu1 bu4 du4

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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.

戶樞不蠹 · find source passages ↗ · 户枢不蠹 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

wu6 syu1 bat1 dou3

Cantonese word readings for 戶樞不蠹. 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) A door hinge never gets plagued by worms; a rolling stone gathers no moss

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

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