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揠苗助長

简揠苗助长 · 繁揠苗助長

Mandarin · pinyin yà miáo zhù zhǎng

see 拔苗助長 bá miáo zhù zhǎng

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Characters in this entry

揠: yà · to pull up, to eradicate
苗: miáo · sprouts; Miao nationality
助: zhù · help, aid, assist
長: zhǎng · long; length; excel in; leader; Kangxi radical 168
长: zhǎng · long; length; excel in; leader

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

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Mandarin tones

4–2–4–3 · ya4 miao2 zhu4 zhang3

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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.

揠苗助長 · find source passages ↗ · 揠苗助长 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

aat3 miu4 zo6 zoeng2

Cantonese word readings for 揠苗助長. 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

(figurative) to be hasty and use inappropriate methods in order to achieve a goal quickly, but by doing so ruin things instead and fail in the end

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

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