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道不拾遺

简道不拾遗 · 繁道不拾遺

Mandarin · pinyin dào bù shí yí

lit. no one picks up lost articles in the street (idiom)
fig. honesty prevails throughout society

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Characters in this entry

道: dào · path, road, street; method, way
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
拾: shí · pick up, collect, tidy up; accounting form of the numeral ten
遺: Look up this written character
遗: yí · lose; articles lost; omit

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

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Mandarin tones

4–4–2–2 · dao4 bu4 shi2 yi2

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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.

道不拾遺 · find source passages ↗ · 道不拾遗 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

dou6 bat1 sap6 wai4

Cantonese word readings for 道不拾遺. 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) synonym of 路不拾遺 /路不拾遗 (lùbùshíyí, “no one pockets lost property on the road”)

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

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