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胸無大志

简胸无大志 · 繁胸無大志

Mandarin · pinyin xiōng wú dà zhì

to have no aspirations (idiom)
unambitious

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Characters in this entry

胸: xiōng · breast, bosom, chest; thorax
無: Look up this written character
大: dà · big, great, vast, large, high
志: zhì · purpose, will, determination; annals
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

1–2–4–4 · xiong1 wu2 da4 zhi4

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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.

胸無大志 · find source passages ↗ · 胸无大志 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

hung1 mou4 daai6 zi3

Cantonese word readings for 胸無大志. 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) to have no great ambitions or aspirations

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

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