百聞不如一見
简 百闻不如一见 · 繁 百聞不如一見Meanings
- seeing once is better than hearing a hundred times (idiom); seeing for oneself is better than hearing from many others
- seeing is believing
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Mandarin tones
3–2–4–2–1–4 · bai3 wen2 bu4 ru2 yi1 jian4
Compare attested words with these syllables ↗Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.
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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.
百聞不如一見 · find source passages ↗ · 百闻不如一见 · find source passages ↗
Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 2 senses · 1 Cantonese reading
Rime Cantonese 粵拼
baak3 man4 bat1 jyu4 jat1 gin3
Cantonese word readings for 百聞不如一見. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.
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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.
proverb
- seeing is believing
- a picture is worth a thousand words
Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history
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