DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

省油的燈

简省油的灯 · 繁省油的燈

Mandarin · pinyin shěng yóu de dēng

sb who is easy to deal with (usu. in the negative, e.g. after 不是 bù shì)

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

省: shěng · province; save, economize
油: yóu · oil, fat, grease, lard; paints
的: de · possessive, adjectival suffix
燈: dēng · lantern, lamp
灯: dēng · lantern, lamp

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

3–2–5–1 · sheng3 you2 de5 deng1

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

5character links1source reference

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.

省油的燈 · find source passages ↗ · 省油的灯 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

noun

(mostly with negative) person who is easy to deal with; person who does not stir up trouble

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

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