DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

有一說一

简有一说一 · 繁有一說一

Mandarin · pinyin yǒu yī shuō yī

to speak plainly; to speak one's mind; to say directly

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

有: yǒu · have, own, possess; exist
一: yī · one; a, an; alone
說: shuō · speak, say, talk; scold, upbraid
说: shuō · speak, say, talk; scold, upbraid

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

3–1–1–1 · you3 yi1 shuo1 yi1

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.

有一說一 · find source passages ↗ · 有一说一 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

"[if] there is one, say one"; to speak the truth

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

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack