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言之無物

简言之无物 · 繁言之無物

Mandarin · pinyin yán zhī wú wù

(of a writing etc) to have no substance (idiom)
to carry no weight

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Characters in this entry

言: yán · words, speech; speak, say; Kangxi radical 149
之: zhī · marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; go to
無: Look up this written character
物: wù · thing, substance, creature
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

2–1–2–4 · yan2 zhi1 wu2 wu4

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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.

言之無物 · find source passages ↗ · 言之无物 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

jin4 zi1 mou4 mat6

Cantonese word readings for 言之無物. 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

(of speech or writing) to be devoid of substance; to be just empty verbiage

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

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