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知人善任

Mandarin · pinyin zhī rén shàn rèn

(idiom) expert at appointing people according to their abilities; to put the right people in the right places

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Characters in this entry

知: zhī · know, perceive, comprehend
人: rén · man; people; mankind; someone else
善: shàn · good, virtuous, charitable, kind
任: rèn · trust to, rely on, appoint; to bear, duty, office; allow

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

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Mandarin tones

1–2–4–4 · zhi1 ren2 shan4 ren4

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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.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

zi1 jan4 sin6 jam6

Cantonese word readings for 知人善任. 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.

phrase

(idiomatic) to know one's subordinates well enough to assign them jobs commensurate with their abilities

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

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