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本小利微

Mandarin · pinyin běn xiǎo lì wēi

(of a small business) to have very little capital and very modest profits

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Characters in this entry

本: běn · root, origin, source; basis
小: xiǎo · small, tiny, insignificant
利: lì · gains, advantage, profit, merit
微: wēi · small, prefix micro-, trifling

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

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Mandarin tones

3–3–4–1 · ben3 xiao3 li4 wei1

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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.

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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

(idiomatic) to have tiny funds and small earnings

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

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