DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

淺嘗輒止

简浅尝辄止 · 繁淺嘗輒止

Mandarin · pinyin qiǎn cháng zhé zhǐ

(lit.) to stop after taking just a sip (idiom); (fig.) to gain only a superficial knowledge of sth and then stop

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Characters in this entry

淺: Look up this written character
嘗: Look up this written character
輒: Look up this written character
止: zhǐ · stop, halt, desist; detain
浅: qiǎn · shallow, not deep; superficial
尝: cháng · taste; experience, experiment
辄: zhé · sides of chariot where weapons

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

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Mandarin tones

3–2–2–3 · qian3 chang2 zhe2 zhi3

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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.

淺嘗輒止 · find source passages ↗ · 浅尝辄止 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

cin2 soeng4 zip3 zi2

Cantonese word readings for 淺嘗輒止. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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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 stop after getting a little knowledge of a subject and not study further or deeper

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

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