披沙揀金

简 披沙拣金 · 繁 披沙揀金
Mandarin · pinyin pī shā jiǎn jīn

Meanings

  1. (lit.) to sort the gold from the sand (idiom)
  2. (fig.) to separate the wheat from the chaff
Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

披
pī · wear; split; crack
沙
shā · sand, gravel, pebbles; granulated
揀
Look up this written character
金
jīn · gold; metals in general; money; Kangxi radical 167
拣
jiǎn · choose; select; pick up; gather
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

1–1–3–1 · pi1 sha1 jian3 jin1

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

4character links
Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗
Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

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.

披沙揀金 · find source passages ↗ · 披沙拣金 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

披沙揀金 · pi1 sha1 jian3 jin1
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 45,767
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record披沙揀金 披沙拣金 [pi1 sha1 jian3 jin1] /(lit.) to sort the gold from the sand (idiom)/(fig.) to separate the wheat from the chaff/