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笨鳥先飛

简笨鸟先飞 · 繁笨鳥先飛

Mandarin · pinyin bèn niǎo xiān fēi

lit. the clumsy bird flies early (idiom); fig. to work hard to compensate for one's limited abilities

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Characters in this entry

笨: bèn · foolish, stupid, dull; awkward
鳥: niǎo · bird; Kangxi radical 196
先: xiān · first, former, previous
飛: Look up this written character
鸟: niǎo · bird; Kangxi radical 196
飞: fēi · fly; go quickly; dart; high

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

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Mandarin tones

4–3–1–1 · ben4 niao3 xian1 fei1

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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.

笨鳥先飛 · find source passages ↗ · 笨鸟先飞 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

ban6 niu5 sin1 fei1

Cantonese word readings for 笨鳥先飛. 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

(figuratively, usually humble) the slow need to start early for fear of falling behind

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

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