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粗枝大葉

简粗枝大叶 · 繁粗枝大葉

Mandarin · pinyin cū zhī dà yè

thick stems and broad leaves (idiom)
boorish
rough and ready
sloppy

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Characters in this entry

粗: cū · rough, thick, course; rude
枝: zhī · branches, limbs; branch off
大: dà · big, great, vast, large, high
葉: yè · leaf, petal; page of book; period
叶: yè · to harmonize, to rhyme; to unite; (borrowed for) leaf

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

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Mandarin tones

1–1–4–4 · cu1 zhi1 da4 ye4

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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.

粗枝大葉 · find source passages ↗ · 粗枝大叶 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

cou1 zi1 daai6 jip6

Cantonese word readings for 粗枝大葉. 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) careless; sloppy; over-generalized

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

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