DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

為德不卒

简为德不卒 · 繁為德不卒

Mandarin · pinyin wéi dé bù zú

to start on virtue but give up (idiom); to fail to carry things through
lack of sticking power
short attention span

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Characters in this entry

為: Look up this written character
德: dé · ethics, morality, virtue
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
卒: zú · soldier; servant; at last, finally
为: wèi · do, handle, govern, act; be

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

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Mandarin tones

2–2–4–2 · wei2 de2 bu4 zu2

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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.

為德不卒 · find source passages ↗ · 为德不卒 · find source passages ↗

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