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積少成多

简积少成多 · 繁積少成多

Mandarin · pinyin jī shǎo chéng duō

(idiom) many little things add up to sth great; many little drops make an ocean

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Characters in this entry

積: Look up this written character
少: shǎo · few, less, inadequate
成: chéng · completed, finished, fixed
多: duō · much, many; more than, over
积: jī · accumulate, store up, amass

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

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Mandarin tones

1–3–2–1 · ji1 shao3 cheng2 duo1

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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.

積少成多 · find source passages ↗ · 积少成多 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

zik1 siu2 sing4 do1

Cantonese word readings for 積少成多. 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 accumulate little by little; many small things add to something great

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

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