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貪小失大

简贪小失大 · 繁貪小失大

Mandarin · pinyin tān xiǎo shī dà

penny wise and pound foolish (idiom)

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Characters in this entry

貪: Look up this written character
小: xiǎo · small, tiny, insignificant
失: shī · lose; make mistake, neglect
大: dà · big, great, vast, large, high
贪: tān · be greedy, covet; covetous

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

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Mandarin tones

1–3–1–4 · tan1 xiao3 shi1 da4

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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.

貪小失大 · find source passages ↗ · 贪小失大 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

taam1 siu2 sat1 daai6

Cantonese word readings for 貪小失大. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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