授之以魚不如授之以漁

简 授之以鱼不如授之以渔 · 繁 授之以魚不如授之以漁
Mandarin · pinyin shòu zhī yǐ yú bù rú shòu zhī yǐ yú

Meanings

  1. give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime (idiom)
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Characters in this entry

授
shòu · give to, transmit; confer
之
zhī · marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; go to
以
yǐ · by means of; thereby, therefore; consider as; in order to
魚
yú · fish; surname; Kangxi radical 195
不
bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
如
rú · if, supposing; as if; like, as
漁
Look up this written character
鱼
yú · fish; surname; Kangxi radical 195
渔
yú · to fish; seize; pursue; surname
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–1–3–2–4–2–4–1–3–2 · shou4 zhi1 yi3 yu2 bu4 ru2 shou4 zhi1 yi3 yu2

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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.

授之以魚不如授之以漁 · find source passages ↗ · 授之以鱼不如授之以渔 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

sau6 zi1 ji5 jyu2 bat1 jyu4 sau6 zi1 ji5 jyu4

Cantonese word readings for 授之以魚不如授之以漁. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

授之以魚不如授之以漁 · shou4 zhi1 yi3 yu2 bu4 ru2 shou4 zhi1 yi3 yu2
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 47,484
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record授之以魚不如授之以漁 授之以鱼不如授之以渔 [shou4 zhi1 yi3 yu2 bu4 ru2 shou4 zhi1 yi3 yu2] /give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime (idiom)/