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笑貧不笑娼

简笑贫不笑娼 · 繁笑貧不笑娼

Mandarin · pinyin xiào pín bù xiào chāng

the notion in society that it's better to get ahead in the world by abandoning one's scruples than to suffer poverty
lit. despising poverty but not prostitution (idiom)

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Characters in this entry

笑: xiào · smile, laugh, giggle; snicker
貧: Look up this written character
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
娼: chāng · prostitute, harlot
贫: pín · poor, impoverished, needy

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

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Mandarin tones

4–2–4–4–1 · xiao4 pin2 bu4 xiao4 chang1

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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.

笑貧不笑娼 · find source passages ↗ · 笑贫不笑娼 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

siu3 pan4 bat1 siu3 coeng1

Cantonese word readings for 笑貧不笑娼. 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

while people may ridicule the poor, they do not ridicule prostitutes

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

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