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磨刀不誤砍柴工

简磨刀不误砍柴工 · 繁磨刀不誤砍柴工

Mandarin · pinyin mó dāo bù wù kǎn chái gōng

lit. sharpening the axe won't make the wood-splitting take longer (idiom)
fig. time invested in preparations is not lost
a beard well lathered is half shaved

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Characters in this entry

磨: mó · grind; polish; rub; wear out; a millstone
刀: dāo · knife; old coin; measure
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
誤: Look up this written character
砍: kǎn · hack, chop, cut, fell
柴: chái · firewood, faggots, fuel
工: gōng · labor, work; worker, laborer
误: wù · err, make mistake; interfere

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

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Mandarin tones

2–1–4–4–3–2–1 · mo2 dao1 bu4 wu4 kan3 chai2 gong1

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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.

磨刀不誤砍柴工 · find source passages ↗ · 磨刀不误砍柴工 · find source passages ↗

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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

Making full preparation will not delay your job but quicken the process.

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

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