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約定俗成

简约定俗成 · 繁約定俗成

Mandarin · pinyin yuē dìng sú chéng

established by popular usage (idiom); common usage agreement
customary convention

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Characters in this entry

約: yuē · treaty, agreement, covenant
定: dìng · decide, settle, fix
俗: sú · social customs; vulgar, unrefined
成: chéng · completed, finished, fixed
约: yuē · treaty, agreement, covenant

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

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Mandarin tones

1–4–2–2 · yue1 ding4 su2 cheng2

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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.

約定俗成 · find source passages ↗ · 约定俗成 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

joek3 ding6 zuk6 sing4

Cantonese word readings for 約定俗成. 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) conventional; customary; socially fixed; having an unwritten law

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

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