DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

言者無意，聽者有心

简言者无意，听者有心 · 繁言者無意，聽者有心

Mandarin · pinyin yán zhě wú yì , tīng zhě yǒu xīn

to take a casual remark to heart (idiom)

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

言: yán · words, speech; speak, say; Kangxi radical 149
者: zhě · that which; he who; those who
無: Look up this written character
意: yì · thought, idea, opinion; think
聽: tīng · hear, listen; understand; obey
有: yǒu · have, own, possess; exist
心: xīn · heart; mind, intelligence; soul; 5th lunar mansion, determinative star α Scorpii (Antares)
无: wú · negative, no, not; Kangxi radical 71
听: tīng · hear; understand; obey, comply

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

Explore the spelling

Connected dictionary

8character links

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

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.

言者無意，聽者有心 · find source passages ↗ · 言者无意，听者有心 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗