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江郎才盡

简江郎才尽 · 繁江郎才盡

Mandarin · pinyin Jiāng láng cái jìn

Jiang Yan has exhausted his talent (idiom)
fig. to have used up one's creative powers
to have writer's block

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Characters in this entry

江: jiāng · large river; the Yangzi; surname
郎: láng · gentleman, young man; husband
才: cái · talent, ability; just, only
盡: Look up this written character
尽: jǐn · exhaust, use up; deplete

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

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Mandarin tones

1–2–2–4 · Jiang1 lang2 cai2 jin4

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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.

江郎才盡 · find source passages ↗ · 江郎才尽 · find source passages ↗

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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 have used up one's creative powers; to have writer's block

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

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