知易行難

简 知易行难 · 繁 知易行難
Mandarin · pinyin zhī yì xíng nán

Meanings

  1. easy to grasp but difficult to put into practice (idiom)
  2. easier said than done
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Characters in this entry

知
zhī · know, perceive, comprehend
易
yì · change; easy
行
xíng · go; walk; move, travel; circulate; Kangxi radical 144
難
Look up this written character
难
nán · difficult, arduous, hard; unable
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

1–4–2–2 · zhi1 yi4 xing2 nan2

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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.

知易行難 · find source passages ↗ · 知易行难 · find source passages ↗

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知易行難 · zhi1 yi4 xing2 nan2
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 79,026
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record知易行難 知易行难 [zhi1 yi4 xing2 nan2] /easy to grasp but difficult to put into practice (idiom)/easier said than done/