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琴棋書畫

简琴棋书画 · 繁琴棋書畫

Mandarin · pinyin qín qí shū huà

(idiom) the four arts of the Chinese scholar (guqin, Go, calligraphy and painting); (by extension) the accomplishments of a well-educated person

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Characters in this entry

琴: qín · Chinese lute or guitar
棋: qí · chess; any game similar to chess
書: Look up this written character
畫: huà · delineate, painting, picture, drawing; draw
书: shū · book, letter, document; writings
画: huà · a painting, picture, drawing; to draw

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

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Mandarin tones

2–2–1–4 · qin2 qi2 shu1 hua4

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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.

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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.

noun

the Four Arts of the Chinese Scholar (i.e. qin, go, calligraphy, and painting)

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

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