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鍥而不捨

简锲而不舍 · 繁鍥而不捨

Mandarin · pinyin qiè ér bù shě

to chip away at a task and not abandon it (idiom); to chisel away at sth
to persevere
unflagging efforts

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Characters in this entry

鍥: Look up this written character
而: ér · and; and then; and yet; but; Kangxi radical 126
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
捨: Look up this written character
锲: qiè · sickle; cut, carve, engrave
舍: shě · shè · house, dwelling; dwell, reside

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

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Mandarin tones

4–2–4–3 · qie4 er2 bu4 she3

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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.

鍥而不捨 · find source passages ↗ · 锲而不舍 · find source passages ↗

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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

kit3 ji4 bat1 se2

Cantonese word readings for 鍥而不捨. 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) to persevere; to continue doing something in a determined way and not give up

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

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