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舉手之勞

简举手之劳 · 繁舉手之勞

Mandarin · pinyin jǔ shǒu zhī láo

(lit.) the exertion of lifting one's hand (idiom)
(fig.) a very slight effort

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Characters in this entry

舉: Look up this written character
手: shǒu · hand
之: zhī · marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; go to
勞: Look up this written character
举: jǔ · raise, lift up; recommend
劳: láo · labor, toil, do manual work

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

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Mandarin tones

3–3–1–2 · ju3 shou3 zhi1 lao2

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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.

舉手之勞 · find source passages ↗ · 举手之劳 · find source passages ↗

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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

geoi2 sau2 zi1 lou4

Cantonese word readings for 舉手之勞. 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) something that requires little effort; no trouble at all

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

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