DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

貧無立錐之地

简贫无立锥之地 · 繁貧無立錐之地

Mandarin · pinyin pín wú lì zhuī zhī dì

not even enough land to stand an awl (idiom); absolutely destitute

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

貧: Look up this written character
無: Look up this written character
立: lì · stand; let stand; establish, set
錐: Look up this written character
之: zhī · marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; go to
地: de · dì · earth; soil, ground; region
贫: pín · poor, impoverished, needy
无: wú · negative, no, not; Kangxi radical 71
锥: zhuī · gimlet, awl, drill, auger; bore

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

2–2–4–1–1–4 · pin2 wu2 li4 zhui1 zhi1 di4

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

6character 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.

貧無立錐之地 · find source passages ↗ · 贫无立锥之地 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

pan4 mou4 laap6 zeoi1 zi1 dei6

Cantonese word readings for 貧無立錐之地. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack