鑿壁偷光

简 凿壁偷光 · 繁 鑿壁偷光
Mandarin · pinyin záo bì tōu guāng

Meanings

  1. lit. to pierce the wall to steal a light (idiom)
  2. fig. to study diligently in the face of hardship
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Characters in this entry

鑿
Look up this written character
壁
bì · partition wall; walls of a house; 14th lunar mansion, determinative star γ Pegasi (Algenib)
偷
tōu · to steal, burglar, thief
光
guāng · light, brilliant, shine; only
凿
záo · chisel; bore, pierce
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

2–4–1–1 · zao2 bi4 tou1 guang1

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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.

鑿壁偷光 · find source passages ↗ · 凿壁偷光 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

zok6 bik1 tau1 gwong1

Cantonese word readings for 鑿壁偷光. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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

鑿壁偷光 · zao2 bi4 tou1 guang1
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 113,035
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record鑿壁偷光 凿壁偷光 [zao2 bi4 tou1 guang1] /lit. to pierce the wall to steal a light (idiom)/fig. to study diligently in the face of hardship/