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禮輕情意重

简礼轻情意重 · 繁禮輕情意重

Mandarin · pinyin lǐ qīng qíng yì zhòng

goose feather sent from afar, a trifling present with a weighty thought behind it (idiom); It's not the gift that counts, but the thought behind it.

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Characters in this entry

禮: lǐ · social custom; manners; courtesy; rites
輕: qīng · light; easy, simple; gentle
情: qíng · feeling, sentiment, emotion
意: yì · thought, idea, opinion; think
重: zhòng · heavy, weighty; double
礼: lǐ · social custom; manners; courtesy; rites
轻: qīng · light; easy, simple; gentle

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

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Mandarin tones

3–1–2–4–4 · li3 qing1 qing2 yi4 zhong4

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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.

禮輕情意重 · find source passages ↗ · 礼轻情意重 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

lai5 hing1 cing4 ji3 zung6

Cantonese word readings for 禮輕情意重. 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

it's the thought that counts

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

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