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與人為善

简与人为善 · 繁與人為善

Mandarin · pinyin yǔ rén wéi shàn

to be of service to others
to help others
benevolent

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Characters in this entry

與: Look up this written character
人: rén · man; people; mankind; someone else
為: Look up this written character
善: shàn · good, virtuous, charitable, kind
与: yǔ · and; with; to; for; give, grant
为: wèi · do, handle, govern, act; be

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

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Mandarin tones

3–2–2–4 · yu3 ren2 wei2 shan4

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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.

與人為善 · find source passages ↗ · 与人为善 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 2 senses

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

phrase

(literary) to do good with others; to help people practise virtue
(idiomatic) to be kind to others; to do good to others

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

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