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白費唇舌

简白费唇舌 · 繁白費唇舌

Mandarin · pinyin bái fèi chún shé

to whistle down the wind
to waste one's breath (idiom)

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Characters in this entry

白: bái · white; pure, unblemished; bright
費: Look up this written character
唇: chún · lips
舌: shé · tongue; clapper of bell; Kangxi radical 135
费: fèi · expenses, expenditures, fee

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

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Mandarin tones

2–4–2–2 · bai2 fei4 chun2 she2

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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.

白費唇舌 · find source passages ↗ · 白费唇舌 · 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

(idiomatic) to waste one's breath

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

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