DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

曉以大義

简晓以大义 · 繁曉以大義

Mandarin · pinyin xiǎo yǐ dà yì

(idiom) to persuade by appealing to principle; to reason with sb on moral grounds

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

曉: Look up this written character
以: yǐ · by means of; thereby, therefore; consider as; in order to
大: dà · big, great, vast, large, high
義: Look up this written character
晓: xiǎo · dawn, daybreak; clear, explicit
义: yì · right conduct, righteousness

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

3–3–4–4 · xiao3 yi3 da4 yi4

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.

曉以大義 · find source passages ↗ · 晓以大义 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗