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手無寸鐵

简手无寸铁 · 繁手無寸鐵

Mandarin · pinyin shǒu wú cùn tiě

lit. not an inch of steel (idiom); unarmed and defenseless

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Characters in this entry

手: shǒu · hand
無: Look up this written character
寸: cùn · inch; small, tiny; Kangxi radical 41
鐵: Look up this written character
无: wú · negative, no, not; Kangxi radical 71
铁: tiě · iron; strong, solid, firm

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

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Mandarin tones

3–2–4–3 · shou3 wu2 cun4 tie3

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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.

手無寸鐵 · find source passages ↗ · 手无寸铁 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

sau2 mou4 cyun3 tit3

Cantonese word readings for 手無寸鐵. 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) unarmed; bare-handed

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

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