DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

無名小卒

简无名小卒 · 繁無名小卒

Mandarin · pinyin wú míng xiǎo zú

insignificant soldier (idiom)
a nobody
nonentity

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

無: Look up this written character
名: míng · name, rank, title, position
小: xiǎo · small, tiny, insignificant
卒: zú · soldier; servant; at last, finally
无: wú · negative, no, not; Kangxi radical 71

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

2–2–3–2 · wu2 ming2 xiao3 zu2

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

4character links

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

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.

無名小卒 · find source passages ↗ · 无名小卒 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

noun

nobody; unremarkable individual

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

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack