DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

百年樹人

简百年树人 · 繁百年樹人

Mandarin · pinyin bǎi nián shù rén

(idiom) it takes many years to raise children to be upstanding citizens

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

百: bǎi · one hundred; numerous, many
年: nián · year; new-years; person's age
樹: shù · tree; plant; set up, establish
人: rén · man; people; mankind; someone else
树: shù · tree; plant; set up, establish

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

3–2–4–2 · bai3 nian2 shu4 ren2

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

5character 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.

百年樹人 · find source passages ↗ · 百年树人 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

baak3 nin4 syu6 jan4

Cantonese word readings for 百年樹人. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

proverb

(abbreviation, alt-of) short for 十年樹木，百年樹人／十年树木，百年树人 (shínián shùmù, bǎinián shùrén, “it takes a long time for good education to bear fruit (i.e. to produce a competent person)”)

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

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