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細大不捐

简细大不捐 · 繁細大不捐

Mandarin · pinyin xì dà bù juān

not to discard anything, whether small or big (idiom)
all-embracing

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Characters in this entry

細: xì · fine, tiny; slender, thin
大: dà · big, great, vast, large, high
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
捐: juān · contribute; give up, renounce
细: xì · fine, tiny; slender, thin

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

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Mandarin tones

4–4–4–1 · xi4 da4 bu4 juan1

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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.

細大不捐 · find source passages ↗ · 细大不捐 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

(idiomatic) to abandon nothing, big or small; to take in everything

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

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