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朽木不可雕

Mandarin · pinyin xiǔ mù bù kě diāo

lit. rotten wood cannot be carved (idiom)
fig. you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear

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Characters in this entry

朽: xiǔ · decayed, rotten; rot, decay
木: mù · tree; wood, lumber; wooden
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
可: kě · may, can, -able; possibly
雕: diāo · engrave, inlay, carve; exhaust; (same as 鵰) an eagle, vulture

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Mandarin tones

3–4–4–3–1 · xiu3 mu4 bu4 ke3 diao1

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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.

proverb

You can’t teach a student that doesn’t have the aptitude.

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

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