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生財有道

简生财有道 · 繁生財有道

Mandarin · pinyin shēng cái yǒu dào

lit. there are principles behind making money (idiom); fig. to have a knack for good business
knowing how to accumulate wealth
good at feathering one's own nest

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Characters in this entry

生: shēng · life, living, lifetime; birth
財: Look up this written character
有: yǒu · have, own, possess; exist
道: dào · path, road, street; method, way
财: cái · wealth, valuables, riches

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

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Mandarin tones

1–2–3–4 · sheng1 cai2 you3 dao4

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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.

生財有道 · find source passages ↗ · 生财有道 · 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

(sometimes derogatory) to be expert in making money; to have the knack of making money

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

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