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聊勝於無

简聊胜于无 · 繁聊勝於無

Mandarin · pinyin liáo shèng yú wú

better than nothing (idiom)

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Characters in this entry

聊: liáo · somewhat, slightly, at least
勝: shèng · victory; excel, be better than
於: yú · yū · in, at, on; interjection alas!
無: Look up this written character
胜: shèng · victory; excel, be better than
于: yú · in, on, at; go to; surname
无: wú · negative, no, not; Kangxi radical 71

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

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Mandarin tones

2–4–2–2 · liao2 sheng4 yu2 wu2

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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.

聊勝於無 · find source passages ↗ · 聊胜于无 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

liu4 sing3 jyu1 mou4

Cantonese word readings for 聊勝於無. 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.

proverb

slightly better than nothing

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

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